Palestinian groups ready for 'long-term' battle against Israel amid Gaza escalation

Amid the relentless Israeli acts of aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip, all Palestinian resistance groups have expressed their preparedness for a "long-term" battle against the occupying regime's acts of terror.

Citing informed sources in the Joint Chamber of Palestinian resistance factions, the Arabic-language news website Palestine al-Youm reported on Saturday that all military wings of the Palestinian resistance groups announced their readiness to engage in a long-term battle against the occupiers under the command of the chamber.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Resistance Movement, Hamas, warned Israel against continued siege of Gaza and repeated acts of aggression.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Friday that the movement would not hesitate to enter into war with Israel in case Tel Aviv continued acts of aggression against the coastal enclave.

“Whoever lays siege to our people will pay a heavy price in their security and stability,” he said.

"We will not hesitate in our national mission and in our commitment to our people,” Barhoum said, adding that Hamas was committed to “protecting the people from all aggression and fighting the occupation if there is an escalation and the siege continues."

Islamic Jihad says ready to respond to any Israeli escalation in Gaza

The Palestinian resistance movement Islamic Jihad says it is fully prepared to respond to any act of aggression by the Israeli military.

On Friday, the Israeli military carried out airstrikes and artillery attacks on various sites across the Gaza Strip over what it cited as a volley of rockets launched from the Palestinian enclave into the occupied territories.

The military said that underground infrastructure and military positions belonging to Hamas were targeted in strikes by Israeli tanks and military aircraft, after resistance fighters fired six rockets at southern Israel overnight.

The rockets came shortly after the Israeli military initially bombed Hamas facilities in Gaza over alleged launch of incendiary and explosive balloons into the occupied land throughout Thursday.

Israel, Hamas trade fire amid flare-up in Gaza tensions

The Israeli military has carried out fresh aerial and artillery attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip.

There have been no immediate reports on possible damage or casualties in the attacks.

For the past several weeks, the Israeli war machine has been pounding different areas of Gaza either by its warplanes or through artillery fire, claiming that the attacks were mainly in response to incendiary balloons sent by Gazans to cause bush fire in the southern parts of the occupied territories.

The coastal sliver, home to some two million people, has been under an Israeli-imposed crippling siege since June 2007, which has caused a decline in the living standards as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty there.

Israel has also launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing thousands of Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor infrastructure.

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