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Gaza terror groups unite for joint war games simulating conflict with Israel

“The Zionist enemy must be careful, if he attacks Gaza – there will be many surprises,” the Gaza terror groups said in a joint statement. 

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

With a cry of “Allahu akbar,” Hamas fired a barrage of six rockets out to sea from Gaza on Tuesday to launch what appears to be the first ever joint military exercise by all of the different terror groups in Gaza.

“We have not failed in our pledge and promised to our people to continue the path of resistance, jihad and struggle, with a pure rifle and a weapon brewed with the blood of the martyrs and the beads of sweat of the fighters in the fields,” said a joint statement posted on the Hamas website.

With the Gaza economy in a shambles under 13 years of Hamas military rule and unemployment over 50%, the distraction from the misery of daily life in Gaza began several days ago with Hamas announcing the military exercise and posting signs and billboards across the seaside enclave that is home to roughly two million people.

Large posters featured the face of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in January of this year in Iraq by an American drone strike. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud a-Zahar revealed that during a visit to Tehran in 2006, the terrorist organization received $22 million in cash from Soleimani, reported Arab affairs analyst Yoni Ben Menachem of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

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The belligerent joint statement that launched the exercise was issued by by all Palestinian factions, declaring that “the Zionist enemy must be careful, if he attacks Gaza – there will be many surprises.”

“The exercise is a message to Israel that the factions are united under one word, one rifle, one missile, which will be activated simultaneously to defeat it as soon as the factions decide,” the statement said.

Before Tuesday, the terrorist organizations sought to emphasize unity among all factions and asked the Palestinian media not to cover other issues besides that of the joint military exercise – especially after an apparent failed rocket launch Monday night at Israel that fell short and exploded in an open area on the Palestinian side of the perimeter fence.

The exercise was also a distraction from the coronavirus pandemic, with Palestinian statistics showing 542 new cases in Gaza on Monday.

The military games included the rocket launching together with land, sea and air exercises using drones, as well as a simulated raid on a Israeli army convoy.

“The message of opposition to the whole world is that the failed normalization agreements will not change anything on the ground,” the statement read, reflecting the terror groups frustration at several Arab countries having recently established diplomatic relations with Israel which bypassed the Palestinian demand that no Arab state open relations with the Jewish State before the Palestinian issue is resolved.