A new Palestinian terror group calling itself the Hizbullah Brigades in Palestine (HBP) issued a proclamation over the weekend saying it would soon begin operating in the Palestinian areas against the Israeli occupation.
Issued in Gaza, the proclamation stated that its fighters come from several other resistance factions that “abandoned the resistance.” HBP’s aims are to “fight the enemies of Islam” by force, while staying away from politics.
The proclamation, which was not signed by any member of the organization, further stated that it had no ties with Lebanon’s Hizbullah, although it followed the latter’s ideology. “All we have in common [with Lebanon’s Hizbullah] is Islam and our admiration of their resistance methods,” HBP stated.
The statement concluded with the slogan: “Death to Israel and death to the United States.”
Meanwhile, Hamas is denying the existence of the new organization. “Clearly there is no brigade with this name,” Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, told The Media Line.
“We have heard this name in the media, but after many investigations [we concluded that] there is no [organization by the name] Hizbullah Brigades in Gaza,” Barhoum said. According to the spokesman, recent proclamations stating the inauguration of new organizations such as Jeish Al-Umma (The Nation Army), Jeish Al-Islam (The Army of Islam) and the Hizbullah Brigades, were all false.
“They all are suggesting that Hamas has no control over Gaza,” Barhoum explained.
Asked who was behind the recent statement by HBP, Barhoum said it might have been someone in the Palestinian Authority, controlled by Fatah.
If so, “that was done in order to assist them [Fatah] in their agenda to return to Gaza,” said Barhoum.
Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in a military coup in June 2007.
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