Posted on 05/15/23
| News Source: i24
A renewed attack would be more powerful, on a wider scale, with high firepower, and would not be limited to the Gaza front, according to Arab media
Ahead of the Jerusalem Day flag march set for later this week, Arab media on Monday reported that Palestinian armed factions threatened Israel of a renewed “powerful campaign,” days after a ceasefire ended rocket escalation between the Israeli military and Gaza’s Islamic Jihad.
According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, the Palestinian factions informed Egyptian mediators – who brokered the truce between Israel and the Islamic Jihad after five days of fighting – that they had the ability to start a new campaign against the Jewish state to “prevent the change of reality” at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
On Sunday, a senior IDF officer spoke with i24NEWS about the possibility of an attack from Gaza's ruling terror faction Hamas on Jerusalem Day: "The more you talk about it, the greater the [likelihood of the] event becomes, without limiting the capacity of our enemies."
The Gaza-based terror groups have issued similar warnings in the past to Israel about the flag parade. Opponents see the march’s route through Old City's Muslim Quarter as a provocation, while supporters see it as an expression of Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem.
Possibly exacerbating tensions in the already combustible Jerusalem Day parade is the prospect of Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attending the nationalist march.
Sources told Al-Akhbar that the Palestinian factions further warned that a campaign for Jerusalem would be more powerful, on a wider scale, with high firepower, and would not be limited to the Gaza front. They also emphasized their alertness for any development on the Temple Mount and clarified that the issue of the flag parade in Jerusalem was not included in the recent ceasefire agreement.