Hamas leader says group ‘ready’ if Israel increases its attacks

In a statement, he said that the problem is not with Gaza but with Israel.

“If (Israel) wants to escalate, we are ready for it, and if it wants to stop, we’re also ready,” Haniya, who currently lives outside the Strip, said in a televised address.

Haniya went on to say that linking Jerusalem with the Gaza Strip is reflective of equating “resistance with identity” and hailed the protests that have broken out among Palestinians within Israel and the occupied territories.

“We are all moving together in a coherent manner in order to confront the occupation,” he said.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced to launch more airstrikes in Gaza.

At least 35 Palestinians, including 10 children, have been killed as Israel bombardment of Gaza escalates.

The Israeli military has continued its airstrikes on Gaza, targeting several areas after rockets were fired from the enclave.

It is said to be the most intense airstrikes in Gaza since the bombardment in 2014.

Following the bombardment from Israel, Hamas also launched rockets from the coastal territory towards Israel as a result of which five people were killed. Loud booms and air-raid sirens were heard across targeted cities, which included Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Modiin, and Beersheba.

The Gaza-based Palestinian group, Hamas, has vowed to hit Israeli targets in retaliation against air strikes on Gaza Strip and the police attack on Palestinian worshippers at Al Aqsa Mosque.

The rocket fire came after Hamas, which rules Gaza, issued a warning to demanding Israel to stand down its security forces from the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem following days of violence against Palestinians.

Israeli police, in its latest act of violence, stormed the compound on Monday for a third consecutive day, firing rubber-coated steel rounds, stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian worshippers inside the mosque in the final days of the holy month of Ramadan.

More than 700 Palestinians were injured in Jerusalem and across the occupied West Bank in recent weeks.