Zahhar: Israel will be fully responsible for expanding the arena of conflict

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, stated Saturday that if Israel wanted to change the rules of the game and expand the arena of conflict, It would be fully responsible for the repercussions.

“Israel had experienced that and was seared by its conflict with the Liberation organization (PLO); it also knows that Hamas is able to reach its targets anywhere, but until this moment we uphold the battlefield and the rules of the game inside the occupied Palestinian lands,” Dr. Zahhar told a news conference in Gaza commenting on the assassination of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai.

“As always, we do not utter words in vain. We are able to hurt the Zionist enemy and this is something the occupation forces know well, whether on the battlefield or elsewhere,” he added.

For his part, senior Hamas official and lawmaker Mushir Al-Masri said Saturday Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, would retaliate to the assassination of Mabhouh in the right time and place.

During a march organized in northern Gaza Strip in protest at the murder of Mabhouh, Masri emphasized that Al-Qassam Brigades retain for itself the appropriate mechanism for striking the Israeli occupation, adding that Israel would pay dearly for its crime.