A member of Hamas’ political bureau, Husam Badran, said his movement was “focusing” on the West Bank, “which is heading towards a comprehensive confrontation” with Israel, confirming Israeli accusations that the movement was pushing for a security escalation in this area.
“The escalation in the state of resistance in the West Bank indicates it is heading towards a comprehensive confrontation with the occupation,” Badran said in remarks to the press. He said the area “has enough heroes and resistance fighters to resist this occupation.”
His statements came in parallel with Israeli reports accusing Hamas of working to rebuild its military infrastructure in the West Bank.
On Sunday, Israel said it had thwarted several “hostile” operations planned by Hamas in the West Bank. It conducted a preemptive strike, during which the Israeli army killed five Palestinians, and arrested several others in different areas.
The Israeli army carried out a large-scale operation in the West Bank simultaneously to kill and arrest Palestinian fighters, which also ended with the serious injury of an Israeli officer and soldier in Jenin, in the northern part of the city.
According to Israeli media, the army is working to complete a mission in the West Bank, which began with the killing of five Palestinians, who purportedly belonged to an armed cell. Reports said that joint security coordination between the Israeli army and the Shin Bet, later led to the seizure of a large quantity of explosives that were to be used by the cell members to carry out an operation in Jerusalem in the coming days.
Several Israeli reports confirmed that despite the success of the operation, not all members of the cell were arrested. They added that the Israeli security apparatus was working to eliminate, within just one week, the infrastructure that took Hamas months to build in the West Bank.
