A day after Hamas announced its own cease-fire in Gaza, its military arm announced that it would rearm even more massively than before. At a press conference today, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Ubaida said that Hamas would rebuild its missile arsenal in quantities before Operation Cast Lead. "We won't surrender to the pressure applied on us. Our rocket force was unaffected by the fighting."
Abu Ubaida added, "Do what you will, but the manufacture of holy weapons is our mission, and we know how to obtain arms. Bringing weapons into Gaza isn't smuggling at all. The natural situation is for weapons to be brought in officially by all Arab and Muslim countries and from other free peoples of the world in order to confront the Israeli occupation. Even while the world denies it, we believe that it is our right to bring in weapons as we see fit."
Abu Ubaida claimed that, in contrast to Israel's claims that 500 Hamas operatives were killed during the campaign, in fact only a few dozen were killed. He also claimed that Hamas killed 80 IDF troops.
Yesterday, the IDF began withdrawing troops to outside the Gaza Strip. Israel intends to complete the withdrawal by 7 pm tomorrow, when Barack Obama is sworn in as president of the US, as a gesture to the US. The tens of thousands of reservists called up for the campaign will be discharged in the coming days.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 19, 2009
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