Mourners carry the body of senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Khalil Al-Bahtini, who was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Gaza City, May 9, 2023. (Credit: Mohammed Salem/Reuters)
BEIRUT — Hamas’s representative in Lebanon, Ahmed Abdel-Hadi said Tuesday that there will be two responses to the “Zionist aggression on Gaza” that took place Tuesday morning.
“One is soft, yet effective. [It] makes the enemy stand on the edge and will paralyze its entity,” he said in a statement, without offering further details. “Our second response will be rough ... and it will not be long delayed.”
Israel killed three Islamic Jihad commanders and 10 civilians in surprise airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, drawing threats of reprisals from the faction and censure from Egypt, which has mediated past ceasefires in the enclave.
In his Tuesday statement, Abdel-Hadi said it is the responsibility "of the capable resistance to manage the war with the enemy with unity of stance, wisdom, knowledge, and according to a comprehensive vision and careful assessment of its position, but what is constant is that it will always have the upper hand against its enemy."
On Tuesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement condemning the “Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip."
The statement “warned of the seriousness of the Israeli escalation and the continuation of the Israeli violations of Islamic and Christian holy places, which leads to a serious threat to international peace and security.”
In April, dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel. Israel said Hamas was behind the operation, and the Israeli army retaliated with strikes on both southern Lebanon and Gaza.
Rockets targeting Israel were also fired from the coastal enclave.