The Hamas terror group warned that Gazans could step up violent protests against Israel and Egypt should the Palestinian Authority impose fresh sanctions on the beleaguered enclave.
Members of the group, the de facto ruler of Gaza, told Egyptian officials that tens of thousands of Palestinians could rush the Strip’s borders in an attempt to overrun Israeli and Egyptian forces, the pan-Arabic daily al-Hayat reported Sunday.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who is seeking to regain control of Gaza from Hamas, has threatened to cut off funds to Gaza after Israel began allowing fuel donated by Qatar to be pumped into the Strip to enable increased power for residents.
On Friday Israel halted the fuel deliveries in response to violent clashes on the Gaza border. The border violence, orchestrated by Hamas under the banner of “the March of Return,” has waxed and waned since it began in March and has gained ferocity over the past few weeks.
Citing unidentified Hamas sources, al-Hayat reported that the terror group told Cairo the situation in Gaza “will explode either in the face of Egypt or Israel if Abbas imposes new sanctions on the Strip” and “it is possible that tens of thousands of Palestinian will storm the southern borders with Egypt or eastern or northern borders with the occupation and perhaps thousands of martyrs will fall and we do not want that.”
Hamas, which seeks to destroy Israel, warned that if Abbas imposes new sanctions, he will be “responsible for what happens as a result of that” and that “it [Gaza] will defend itself in the face of these sanctions.”
Israel fears further deterioration in Gaza could lead to another round of war on the southern border.
Hamas seized control of Gaza from Abbas’s Palestinian Authority in a 2007 near-civil war and multiple reconciliation attempts aimed at restoring the PA to power in Gaza have failed.
Abbas says that making deals with Hamas amounts to recognizing its control over Gaza in place of the PA and has sought to block fuel shipments from Qatar which Israel had only recently begun to deliver.
Speaking at the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York last month, Abbas suggested the Palestinians would cut all PA budgets allocated to Gaza if Hamas does not hand over control of the the coastal territory.
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