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The claim was made by one of the Hamas leaders, Yehya Sinwar, in front of a group of students and academics in Gaza on Saturday last week.
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“God has ordained that we must strike Tel Aviv, and there are other capabilities that we have not disclosed,” Sinwar said, adding that Hamas and its allies could destroy Tel Aviv by launching 130 missiles per minute at the city.
Hamas’ ally in Gaza is the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group. These two groups were involved in a bloody 11-day war last month. The war killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza and 12 in Israel.
Sinwar criticized the Arab countries that signed normalization deals with Israel — the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco —, claiming that they ignored Palestine and led to what he described as Israeli aggression.
Sinwar went on to say that Hamas only used “50 percent of its power” in the latest round of fighting with Israel last month. According to him, the strategic aim of the war was to unite the people behind Hamas.
“Israel has failed to destroy our ability to resist it. Their plan to kill ten thousand fighters failed,” he said.
“Israel has not destroyed more than 3 percent of the tunnels in Gaza. [Metro Hamas] not destroyed because we love our land and it loves us back,” he said, as quoted by Israel Hayom, Monday (7/6/2021).
The claim by the Hamas group contradicts the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which says it destroyed more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) of Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip in recent fighting.
Sinwar said the strategic aim of Hamas is to break the pride of Israel, which he calls a criminal and arrogant enemy.
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He derided Israel for building a wall along the border with the Gaza Strip. “What kind of country has to build such a wall? Israel is a thousand times weaker than a spider’s house. Israel is a weak and shaky country,” he said.
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