The terrorists in Hamas, with headquarters in Gaza, opened up a war with Israel when members attacked Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, committing atrocity after atrocity and killing some 1,400 in that one night.
Now it wants help.
And it is instructing other Islamic groups to attack Israel too, actually inciting them.
The status there is that after the initial attack, Israel responded with strategic air strikes on Hamas locations in Gaza. It also has launched a ground war that is dedicated to the elimination of the terror group.
One issue is that Hamas places its military installations, such as rocket launchers, at or adjacent to hospitals, schools and housing units, meaning that its own civilians suddenly are human "shields" for the inevitable counterpunch from Israel's military.
A report at the Middle East Media Research Institute now confirms that Hamas no longer wants to go it alone.
Already, "Hamas official Husam Badran urged all those with weapons in the West Bank to 'take immediate action,' stressing that 'the [West] Bank is the front most capable of aiding Gaza, before we request aid from outside.'"
The radicalization campaigns are mostly on social media, where Telegram "serves as a convenient platform for Hamas' calls for terror attacks…"
"Many Telegram accounts that belong to or are affiliated with the terror organizations post messages that encourage the people of the West Bank to carry out shootings, stabbings, car-ramming attacks and other attacks against Israelis," MEMRI reported. "Especially conspicuous in this context are accounts affiliated with Hamas' student organization, the Islamic Bloc, which call to wage terror and 'launch a jihad war' against Israel."
Other incitement comes from "Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of Fatah, which is the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority."
One Islamic Bloc video even gives tips on carrying out drive-by shootings.
Among the statements is one from a Hamas spokesman for Jerusalem affairs, who said, "The role of the West Bank and of its uprising against the occupier and its settler gangs is vitally important and has great impact on the Al-Aqsa Flood campaign… Every opportunity must be taken to attack the enemy's strongholds, military posts and settlements. I call on the rebelling young people to summon each other and come together on every road and in every area, and carry out effective, high-quality attacks to teach the enemy a lesson he will never forget…"
And from the Islamic Bloc was: "Gaza produces many [military] inventions despite the siege. Who will be the first in the West Bank to launch a suicide drone at an enemy checkpoint or settlement? It's not difficult."
And the Hamas-affiliated Shehab News Agency said online, "the [West] Bank Youth Coalition" was saying, "Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory [Quran 22:39]."
That "youth coalition" continued, "Oh the multitudes of our great people in the occupied [West] Bank, [who are] the direct continuation of Marwan Zalloum [commander of Fatah's Tanzim militia in Hebron, killed in April 2002] and of Abdullah Al-Qawasma [commander of the Hamas military wing in Hebron, killed in June 2003]. Oh legacy of [Ibrahim] Al-Nabulsi [head of the Nablus-based Lions’ Den militia, killed in August 2022]… who urged you not to put down the gun… Oh all the youth of the West Bank, oh lovers of [the Lions’] Den, the [Jenin] Brigade and the [Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam] Brigades. Oh revivers of the confrontation… Oh young men and women of the occupied West Bank… Now it is our turn, go forth for the sake of Allah. Continue the glorious campaign of our people in Gaza and the West Bank, in the spirit of struggle and of solidarity with our people everywhere, and out of loyalty to the pure blood of our martyrs and of the heroes of the glorious crossing [of the border] on October 7, [2023]…"
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades demanded a "general mobilization" of every person with a weapon: "[This is] a call for everyone who has a weapon in the West Bank and Jerusalem: [take up] a knife or carry out a car ramming attack… The headquarters of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades calls for a general mobilization and for delivering blows at every friction point with the Israeli enemy [in the West Bank], in order to help our brothers in Gaza."
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