Hamas: Only 48 of our fighters were killed in war with Israel

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Izzadin Kassam, the Hamas's military wing, said on Monday during a Gaza press conference that only 48 of the group's gunmen were killed during Israel's three-week military operation in the Gaza Strip, and stressed that Hamas would continue to rearm despite efforts to stop the weapon smuggling. While Israel has reported that at least 500 of the 1,300 Palestinians killed in Gaza were terrorists, Hamas claimed that only several dozens of its men died in the fighting. The group's spokesman also claimed that Hamas had killed 80 IDF soldiers in the fighting. "Do what you like, but the manufacturing of holy weapons is our goal…bringing arms into Gaza is not smuggling. The natural situation would be for all Arab and Muslim countries, along with the rest of the free world, to formally allow weapons into the Strip… Meanwhile, we believe it is our right to bring arms in any way we find fit," Abu Obeida said at the press conference.