GAZA CITY (Dispatches) – The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has warned the Zionist regime it will react to any possible “violations” at a flashpoint holy site in Al-Quds during the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, issued the warning less than two weeks before the start of Ramadan and amid an escalation in the Zionist-Palestinian conflict under Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Salah Al-Aruri, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, said the risk of escalation entirely “depends on the Israeli occupation’s violations across Palestine and at Al-Aqsa Mosque” located in annexed East Al-Quds.
Al-Aqsa, a Jordan-administered mosque compound, is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on top of what Jews call the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site.
Any attempt by the occupying regime to “impose” its policies during Ramadan would be met with the “reaction of our people,” Aruri said in remarks carried by his movement’s official website.
Hamas, meanwhile, has no plans to initiate an escalation during Ramadan, according to the English-language version of Aruri’s remarks.
Ramadan has often coincided with upticks in violence between Palestinians and Zionists, particularly at Al-Aqsa.
Under the protection of Zionist troops, settlers have violently stormed Al-Aqsa during Ramadan, attacking Palestinian worshipers inside the compound.
Back in January, Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards in a highly provocative move.
Palestinians condemned the intrusion as a violation of international law and Al-Aqsa’s historical status quo.
The Jewish visitation of Al-Aqsa is permitted, but non-Muslim worship is prohibited according to an agreement signed between Tel Aviv and the Jordanian government in the wake of the Zionist regime’s occupation of East Al-Quds in 1967.
Also in his remarks, Aruri urged Al-Quds residents to stand against the policies pursued by Ben-Gvir and other Zionist officials, including the demolition of Palestinian homes and the occupation of their lands.
He also said that the flame of resistance has not been extinguished in the West Bank, but rather, it is expanding in scope.
“Hamas stands behind, supports and approves any act of resistance that takes place in the West Bank,” he added, calling for the formation of popular committees in the landlocked territory to deal with settlers and back up Palestinian villages and towns.
Tensions have increased in the occupied territories since late December 2022, when Netanyahu returned to power as head of the occupying regime’s most far-right cabinet ever.