Senior Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri said that the Palestinian resistance has succeeded in stopping Israelis’ storming Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israeli newspaper Maariv reported.
The deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau who is responsible for the movement’s military wing in the occupied West Bank, Al-Arouri’s statement came after a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ban non-Muslims from entering the Al-Aqsa compound until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
He added that “Israel’s situation is particularly weak” and that it is experiencing a state of conflict and division and is heading towards internal disintegration.
“The resistance,” he continued, “stands ready … to respond to the recent aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
He linked the recent Israeli decision to ban Israeli settlers from storming Al-Aqsa to “the recent response of the resistance from Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza,” which “came within the context of defending Al-Aqsa.”
He added that “the resistance has become Israel’s main concern, and we have the power to stop [Israeli] aggression and liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
READ: Attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque are draining Israel on all fronts
Montather Rassoul