Hamas calls for new intifada, IDF sends reinforcements to West Bank
Ismail Haniyeh says US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital 'is a declaration of war,' adding Hamas 'should work on launching an intifada in the face of the Zionist enemy' and calling for a day of rage on Friday.
Hamas called on Thursday for a new uprising against Israel after US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, while the IDF decided to send reinforcements to the West Bank.
"We should call for and we should work on launching an intifada in the face of the Zionist enemy," Hamas bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh said in a speech in Gaza.
"The American decision is a declaration of war," Haniyeh added, "aggression on our people and a war on our sanctuaries."
Naser Al-Qidwa, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and senior official in his Fatah party, urged Palestinians to stage protests but said they should be peaceful.
Protests so far have been scattered and largely non-violent.
But dozens of Palestinians gathered at two points on the Gaza border fence with Israel and threw rocks at soldiers on the other side.
One Palestinian was wounded by army fire, Palestinian medics said.
In cities inside Gaza, thousands of Palestinians rallied, some chanting: "Death to America! Death to the fool Trump!" and burning tyres
Meanwhile, the IDF said it would deploy several new battalions, while other forces are being put on standby, calling the measures "part of the IDF's readiness for possible developments."
Haniyeh said all of Hamas's men and its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were instructed to be on high alert.
"We have given instruction to all Hamas members and to all its wings to be fully ready for any new instructions or orders that may be given to confront this strategic danger that threatens Jerusalem and threatens Palestine," said Haniyeh.
He called for a "day of rage" on Friday, saying "Let December 8 be the first day of the intifada against the occupier."
"We want the uprising to last and continue to let Trump and the occupation regret this decision," Haniyeh said. Prime Minister Netanyahu "will have no escape from the rage of the Arab and Muslim nation," he added.
"Jerusalem is being seized and robbed of its Arab and Islamic space," he warned. "United Jerusalem is Arab and Muslim, and it is the capital of the state of Palestine, all of Palestine."
The Hamas leader called on Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw from peacemaking with Israel and on Arabs to boycott the Trump administration.
"It should be announced that the so-called peace agreement was buried, once and for all, and that there is nothing called a partner for the Palestinians in peace," he said. "There's no such thing as the deal of the century, not the quarter century nor the half century."
He went on to say that "This decision buried Oslo and the diplomatic process. I call on the Palestinian Authority to announce it is abandoning the Oslo Accords."
"We're facing a historic turning point. Trump's support of Israel and the satanic alliance between them shows Jerusalem is united—it has no east and west," Haniyeh added. "This decision means the end of one diplomatic stage and the beginning of another."
He also called on Arab nations to unite against the decision and boycott the American administration. "The Arab nation is required to support the struggle of the Palestinian people, the intifada of the Palestinian people. If Jerusalem is lost, you will have no honor."
Palestinian secular and Islamist factions called a general strike and midday rallies to protest Trump's decision.
Answering the call for strike on Thursday, the Palestinian education ministry declared a day off and urged teachers as well as high school and university students to take part in the planned rallies in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Palestinian areas in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Jihad's spokesman Daud Shihab called on Arab nations "to stop persecuting the resistance and to trying to undermine its legitimacy by categorizing it as terrorism. Instead, they must increase the boycott campaign."
The spokesman of the Iranian military Massoud Jazayeri stressed that "The Israeli occupiers will never enjoy stability. The occupation's only choices are to abandon the Palestinian territories, or destruction."
