By DPA,
Gaza City : Israel will not succeed in toppling the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the radical Islamic movement said Tuesday.
While the rocket attacks against southern Israel were causing fatalities and damage on the Israeli side, the offensive against it left Hamas unfazed and only made it “more determined to respond”, Fawzi Barhoum told reporters in Gaza.
“The occupation will not succeed in toppling Hamas and its government,” he said.
He condemned the Israeli campaign, which thus far has totalled close to 400 aerial attacks over four days, killing at least 360 Palestinians and injuring hundreds, as “genocide”.
Most of the dead are members of Hamas’ security forces and armed forces, but according to the UN, at least 62 are women and children.
“Those who believe that these strikes will end Hamas have to compare what is happening in Gaza to what happened in Lebanon; a 33-day war that destroyed everything in Lebanon did not succeed in ending the Lebanese resistance,” he said.
Instead, he said, Lebanon’s radical Shia Hezbollah movement only gained in strength and popularity. “It is Israel who will kneel down,” he said, adding: “We rely on Allah” as well as the support of Muslim states and the international community.