Hamas issued a statement on, Saturday, August 13th, through its spokesman, Hazem Qassem, in which he said: “We reject the continued escalation of the Israeli occupation’s aggression on our land and people, through the crimes of settlement, demolition and displacement .”

The movement’s statement comes in response to the Israeli occupation’s announcement of the establishment of a new “settlement bloc” on the lands of Deir Istiya town in Salfit Governorate, in the northern occupied West Bank.

The statement also comes after the occupation’s decision to “immediately demolish” the Ein Samiya school, northeast of Ramallah (center), and its repeated attempt to demolish the “Nabi Musa” community, northeast of the occupied city of Jerusalem.

Qassem added: “We reiterate that they are (the above) Zionist crimes, and an open war against the Palestinian land and its people.”

The Hamas spokesman explained that “The escalating Zionist crimes are taking place in full view of the world, and within the framework of the Israeli occupation’s disregard for all international charters, and laws and reports rejecting these violations.”

He stressed that this “deepens the responsibility of the various human rights and humanitarian organizations to move towards putting an end to its terrorism and ending the occupation of our land and our holy sites.”

He added, however, that “the crimes of the occupation highlight the legitimate, continuous and cohesive struggle of our people in all arenas, in self-defense, in the protection of constants and sanctities, and in the expropriation of their national rights, foremost of which is liberation and self-determination.”