The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, authorized hundreds of Palestinians on Friday for the first time to display their weapons in the Gaza Strip under Israeli blockade.
Visitors, including children, were invited to take pictures with the weapons and ammunition exhibited by the al-Qassam Brigades.
“Take souvenir photos with many weapons”, promised the armed group, in a message relayed on social networks and on posters posted in mosques.
This is the first time that Hamas has allowed people to approach its arsenal and take pictures with it. It is generally forbidden to approach the military sites scattered in the Gaza Strip and to photograph them.
In the Square of the Unknown Soldier park, west of Gaza City, the al-Qassam Brigades unveiled a collection of “locally made” missiles, as well as Russian-made Kornet-type missiles, rifles and anti-aircraft surface-to-air launchers, as well as a drone called “Shihab”, according to the group.
“I came with my family to take pictures with weapons and strengthen the spirit of resistance in our children,” Gaza resident Abu Mohammed Abu Chakian told AFP.
“We are proud of these (weapons) made by the al-Qassam resistance,” he added.
The exhibit is “encouraging and signifies that the liberation of our lands is near,” said Chahada Al Dalou, a 38-year-old from Gaza, whose children took pictures in front of the missiles with their mobile phones.
For Bassam Darwish, 58, “we are here because we are proud of the resistance and we want to support it.”
The Gaza Strip is a cramped territory plagued by poverty and unemployment under Israeli blockade since Hamas took power in 2007 and home to 2.3 million Palestinians. It has been the scene of several wars with Israel since 2008.
In May, Israel and Palestinian armed groups clashed again with airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and rockets fired at Israeli soil.
In total, this violence claimed the lives of 34 Palestinians, including six military commanders of the Islamic Jihad (armed movement considered terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union), fighters from various Palestinian armed groups, and civilians, including children, and an Israeli woman.
02/07/2023 17:07:43 – Gaza (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
