By Xinhua
Gaza : Prime Minister Ismail Haneya of the sacked Hamas government lives a normal life and did not go underground though he took some security measures, Hamas administration said on Tuesday.
“No one has fled and no one has gone into hiding,” said Taher al-Nounou, spokesman for the deposed Hamas government which rules the Gaza Strip, adding that “he (Haneya) is not afraid.”
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak indicated his country might try to topple the Hamas regime in Gaza.
Israeli media also reported on Monday that Haneya disappeared following Israeli threats to widen pinpoint hunting down of Hamas leaders in response to the home-made rocket salvos launched by Gaza armed groups into southern Israel.
Al-Nounou described the allegations as “silly jokes,” adding that Haneya “runs his government’s affairs everyday as usual, meet officials and give them his orders.”
Responding to the rumor that Haneya moved into a less-known home, al-Nounou said that “everyone took security procedures but they did not mount to the level of hiding and escaping.”
Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said that if Hamas leaders were harmed, resistance against Israel “will turn into a volcano that will erupt in the face of the (Israeli) occupation.”
Islamic Hamas movement violently took control of the Gaza Strip after it chased out rival Fatah movement loyal to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in mid June.
In response, Abbas then sacked the Hamas-led government and formed a new cabinet based in the West Bank city of Ramallah.