Hamas published a statement on its military website threatening to kill thousands of Israelis and damage Israel’s economy unless their demands were met. The statement mentioned no compromise for an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, but said Hamas wanted to expand the fighting to a ”war of liberation.”

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said:

There is no turning back and the resistance will continue and with all our strength … we will not waiver on any of the demands of our people.

“We are ready to jump-start the battle again,” Barhoum said, threatening “a long war of attrition” that would attack Israel’s large cities, disrupt airline traffic at Ben Gurion International Airport for months and create havoc for Israel’s economy.

The Hamas statement also vowed to cause “thousands of deaths and tens of thousands wounded and hundreds of prisoners.”

Israel has made it clear that they will not negotiate while being attacked by Hamas. Veteran news analyst Avi Isacharoff wrote:

Israel’s delegation is not in Cairo and it’s hard to see why it would be. For now the rocket attacks from Gaza are continuing and Israel has said that it won’t negotiate under fire.

Hamas repeatedly threatened Israel with continued rocket attacks unless their demands were met for opening Gaza’s borders and allowing them sea and air ports, most likely for continued flow of weapons and construction materials to replace the rockets fired so far and the dozens of attack tunnels Israel has blown up.

Since Hamas broke the 72-hour ceasefire on Friday they have fired over hundred rockets into Israel adding to the more than 3000 rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities in the past month. Many of those rockets landed short and blew up in Gaza, contributing to the damage and causing an unknown number of casualties among Gaza civilians.

[Photo: Izzadin Al Qassam website]