After a quiet Eid in Gaza, Hamas warns Israel against assassination attempts

The Islamic Hamas movement on Sunday warned Israel to not resume its policy of launching assassination attempts on senior members residing in the besieged Gaza Strip. 

On Saturday, Israeli outlets reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at the possibility of resuming Israel's policy of launching assassination attempts in Gaza if the security situation deteriorates.

Hazem Qassem, a spokesperson of Hamas, said in a press statement sent to The New Arab that "threats to resume assassinations against the resistance leadership are a failed attempt to enhance the Israeli image after the escalation of our people's revolution and the multiplicity of resistance actions in West Bank and Lebanon."

"The response by the Palestinian armed resistance against the resumption of the assassination's policy would be bigger and larger than expected," Qassem added.

The spokesperson stressed that "the enemy's hand is not absolute to exercise its terror," further noting, "We will continue our legitimate struggle against it, and we will not fear these threats."

A few days ago, Israel accused the deputy head of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, who resides abroad, of being behind operations targeting Israelis in the West Bank and Jerusalem. 

Israel has a long history of targeted assassinations dating back to the 1950s, when Egyptian army general Mustafa Hafez was killed by a bomb concealed in a book.

Research by Ronen Bergman, an Israeli investigative journalist, reveals Israel is estimated to have carried out more than 2,700 assassination operations since the state's founding in 1948.