Israel's plan to apply sovereignty to large parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley is a "declaration of war on the Palestinian people," Hamas warned on Thursday.
Channel 12 News quoted Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades – Hamas' military wing – as calling the Israeli plan "criminal" and warning that "the occupier will bitterly regret it."
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"The plan is the biggest theft of Palestinian land in decades," Abu Obeida said in a statement. The "resistance will continue with its mission to remove the occupation from all the lands of historic Palestine," he vowed.
Hamas, which claims to be a political movement, is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Egypt. It usurped control of the Gaza Strip in a military coup in 2007, expelling the Western-backed Fatah government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the West Bank.
"The resistance considers this decision a declaration of war on the Palestinian people. The resistance, in this war, will be the loyal and trustworthy guard in defending our people and their land and holy shrines," Abu Obeida said.
Hamas will make Israel "bitterly regret" its decision to extend sovereignty to the West Bank, he reiterated.
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