For a while it appeared that Hamas' weekly "marches of return" on the Gaza-Israel border were dying down, but this month they have seen a regeneration. On Friday, Gaza began organizing for its 85th weekly demonstration, with the central committee charged with overseeing the violent protests calling on Gaza residents to turn out en masse.
Various Palestinian terrorist groups sent Israel threatening message on Friday. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum was quoted by the Palestinian news agency Ma'an saying "The Israeli occupation being based on a policy of airstrikes against the resistance and [Hamas' armed wing] the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and continued strikes and destruction of the resistance's capabilities and to people's lives will never give us safety and security. It must take the consequences and pay the price."
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"Experience proves that this foolish policy is dangerous," Barhoum added.
Also Friday, head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Ziad Nahala was quoted by the news site Al-Wataniya saying, "We emphasize that we will continue on the path of jihad and resistance, and it doesn't matter what challenges or losses we face. We emphasize that the resistance is unified in its fight against aggression … We will send a united response to any aggression, and no aggression will go unanswered. That is what we have agreed on with our brothers in Hamas."
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also said it would respond to a series of arrests of its members, who were detained when Israeli security forces exposed a PFLP terrorist network in Judea and Samaria. The PFLP warned that it would respond with "action, not talk."
"If the enemy thinks that the war it has declared on the commanders and members of the Front in the West Bank and in prisons can stop the roots of the PFLP resistance or extinguish its fire, that is a delusion," a representative of the organization's prisoner affairs committee said Friday.
In a related development, Palestinian news outlets reported Friday that a Qatari envoy had returned to the Gaza Strip carrying grant funds for the month of December. Later Friday the names of the recipients of the money were slated to be made public.
