|
Thousands attend slain Hamas leader's funeral in Gaza |
|
|
Saturday, 3 January 2009Gaza – Ma’an – Thousands of Hamas supporters paid their last respects at a funeral procession for one of the movement’s most prominent military and political leaders, Nizar Rayan, and fourteen members of his family on Friday.
The 15 Palestinians died in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the central Gaza Strip the day before. Their bodies were wrapped in Hamas flags before they were buried.
Mourners prayed in the yard of a local mosque that was destroyed on Thursday night after being shelled by Israeli fighter planes.
Rayan was one of the leading members of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. His four-story home was hit by two missiles shortly after the Israeli army reportedly urged him to evacuate.
In an unusual show of unity, several members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) attended the funeral.
Hamas leader and PLC member Ismail Al-Asqar said that “the killing of Rayan has strengthened the movement.”
“The rules of the game have changed since the first day (of Israel’s operation); there are many surprised awaiting the occupation,” he said. “The killings will empower us. We will not raise a white flag.”
“The occupation will enter Gaza again,” the PLC member predicted, calling for “new strikes” against Israel in light of its assassination of Rayan on Thursday. |
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Ma'an News
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LATEST NEWS
FROM MIDDLE EAST |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MOST VISITED NEWS (DAILY) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
