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‘Palestinian Authority dogs, get out!’ shout pro-Hamas Arabs in Jerusalem

“Dogs of the Palestinian Authority, out, out,” shouted Arabs in Jerusalem, in an apparent show of support for the Hamas terror group.

By World Israel News Staff and AP

Hundreds of masked Hamas terrorists brandishing assault rifles paraded in Gaza City and the group’s top leader made his first public appearance on Saturday, after the terror group’s unsuccessful 11-day war with Israel.

Saturday marked the first full day of a cease-fire, and Egyptian mediators held talks to firm up the truce which ended the fourth Israel-Hamas war in just over a decade.

On Friday, hours after the cease-fire took effect, thousands of Arabs in the Al-Aqsa compound on the Jewish Temple Mount in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, chanted against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his government.

“Dogs of the Palestinian Authority, out, out,” they shouted, and “The people want the president to leave.”

It was an unprecedented display of anger against Abbas. The conflict brought to the surface deep frustration among Arabs, whether in Judea and Samaria, Gaza or within Israel, over the status quo, with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process all but abandoned for years by Abbas.

Despite his weakened status, Abbas will be the point of contact for any renewed U.S. diplomacy, since Hamas is a terrorist organization.

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In the fighting, Hamas and other terror groups fired more than 4,000 rockets toward Israel, which Israel responded with hundreds of retaliatory strikes.

On Saturday, hundreds of Hamas fighters wearing military camouflage paraded past the mourning tent for Bassem Issa, a senior commander killed in the fighting. The top Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, paid his respects in his first public appearance since the war began.

Israel bombed the house of Sinwar, along with that of other senior Hamas figures, as part of its attack on the group’s military infrastructure. Israel’s defense minister, Benny Gantz, has said Israel delivered a punishing blow to Hamas, and that top Hamas figures remained targets.

The fighting began on May 10, when Hamas terrorists in Gaza fired long-range rockets toward Jerusalem. The barrage came after days of clashes between violent Palestinian rioters and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The war has further sidelined Hamas’ main political rival, the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, which oversees Arab enclaves in Judea and Samaria. Hamas’ popularity seems to be growing.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to meet with Abbas and Israeli leaders when he visits in the coming week. Abbas is expected to raise demands that any Gaza reconstruction plans go through the Palestinian Authority to avoid strengthening Hamas.

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Abbas met Saturday with Egyptian mediators, discussing the rebuilding of Gaza and internal Palestinian relations, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

An Egyptian diplomat said that two teams of mediators were in Israel and the Palestinian territories to continue talks on firming up a cease-fire deal and securing long-term calm.

Israel has accused Hamas and rival terror group of Islamic Jihad of hiding the actual number of fighters killed in the war. Prime Minister Netanyahu said Friday that more than 200 terrorists were killed, including 25 senior commanders.

Islamic Jihad on Saturday gave a first account of deaths within its ranks, saying that 19 of its commanders and fighters were killed, including the head of the rocket unit in northern Gaza.