After weekend rocket barrage on Israel, Hamas threatens more

Photo: Just a small portion of Hamas rockets that have landed in the small city of Sderot.

Note: We took 30 tourists down to my brother-in-law’s house, where he made them a gourmet lunch. It was a gorgeous day, and the team had the best time. He shared with them what it is like living in southern Israel, dealing with Hamas rockets. Just hours after we left, Hamas sent a barrage of rockets against Israel. It was a sober moment for our team from Philadelphia. On our next tour, no only will we visit Avner’s kitchen for lunch, but go into Sderot to bless the local believers who live right on the Gaza border.

Days after a barrage of rockets was launched on Israel, Hamas’s leader in Gaza threatened that the terror group would fire “six full months” worth of rockets if Israel does not lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

“We have hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, hundreds of control rooms above and below the ground, thousands of anti-tank missiles and thousands of mortar shells,” Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said on Monday. “We can turn the enemy cities into ghost towns if they decide to attack us. The whole world must know that in Gaza there are about 70,000 armed young men from all the Palestinian factions, and we have young people who believe in the Palestinian cause and [will] achieve the purpose of the people.”

Though no group has taken responsibility, some 10 rockets were fired into Israel just as families were sitting down to Shabbat dinner on Friday. No one was seriously injured, but one rocket stuck a home and a few people were treated for shock.

The Israeli army is prepared for more intense and wide ranging attacks following the weekend of violence. IDF officials have already put Israel on high alert as Iran — which supports groups such as Hamas and  Islamic Jihad in Gaza — continues to pursue nuclear weapons and threatens to attack Israel.

Sinwar confirmed that, “Had it not been for Iran’s financial support, weapons and the transfer of expertise to the resistance in Gaza and Palestine, we would not have reached where we are.”

In what sounded like a campaign rally, Sinwar told a youth group in Gaza that Hamas won’t allow the “humanitarian crisis” in the coastal enclave to continue.

“We won’t wait for too long,” he vowed. “Israel should prepare for something big.”

Sinwar said that Hamas has told the Egyptian mediators that it will “strike at Tel Aviv for six full months” unless the crisis is resolved. “We have hundreds of kilometers of tunnels and thousands of anti-armored weapons and locally made rockets,” he said.