Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the founder of Hamas, has responded with characteristic defiance to an Israeli air strike that wounded him and 14 others on Saturday.
| "You're gonna get it! You're really gonna get it!" |
The spiritual leader of the Islamist resistance group was injured after a quarter-tonne bomb dropped by an Israeli F-16 slammed into a Palestinian apartment block in a densely populated area of Gaza City. âThe Israeli enemy have lost their minds completely,â he told Al jazeera in an exclusive interview later in the day.
| "Those people are crazy, targeting a poor old holy man like me..." |
âThey deal with everything by force, and forget that they are facing the Palestinian people, who will never surrender.â
He also appealed to the international community to hear the plight of the Palestinian people. âWe say to the world: Where are you? When a Zionist is killed you stand up and take notice, but when a Palestinian is killed you are silent,â he said.
| "We're so put upon! Nobody loves us!" |
The wheelchair-bound Yasin, a co-founder of Hamas and its revered spiritual leader, has been treated for injuries to his right shoulder and hand at Shifa Hospital.
| Got his hand caught in the car door when he was making his getaway, huh? Damn, that hurts! |
Yassn was among several Hamas leaders holding a meeting at the home of senior Hamas official and Islamic University lecturer, Dr Marwan Abu Ras, immediately before the strike. Among them were high-ranking officials Muhammad Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.
| Just an innocent get-together with friends. I mean, they were probably just having a few drinks, watching the game on the teevee... |
Abu Ras said the missile struck his home moments after Yassin and Haniyeh evacuated the building after hearing Israeli aircraft overhead. Seventeen other people were injured in the attack, most of them women and children.
| Didn't take any of them with them, did they? Tusk tusk. |
Yassin threatened counter-attacks, confirming fears that the strikes would perpetuate the cycle of violence, especially in the wake of the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who had previously persuaded Hamas and other resistance groups to observe a ceasefire.
| And very well they observed it, too! |
âIsrael is forgetting that it is faced by people who seek martyrdom,â Yassin said. âIf they think that targeting me or any leaders of Hamas will discourage them from jihad, they are deluding themselves. If they expect us to raise the white flag this is also a delusion.â
| "We got lotsa people willing to die for us..." |
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