A Hamas parliamentarian called for more “martyrdom operations” against Israelis.
“We call on all the factions to undertake efforts to contain the enemy and halt its aggression by planning martyrdom operations,” lawmaker Ahmed Abu Helbiya told 2,000 protestors in Gaza City. The event was scheduled on Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, a holiday initially declared by Iran after its 1979 revolution, to mark a day of protest against Israel.
Helbiya paid homage to recent Jerusalem attacks, including the March shooting at the Merkaz HaRav yeshiva, which killed eight students, and an attack this week perpetrated by a Palestinian man who plowed a car into a crowd of Israeli soldiers, wounding 16 of them before being shot dead.
A truce between Israel and Hamas went into effect three months ago, though Palestinian militants continue to fire rockets and mortars over the Israeli border.
