Exiled Hamas leader visits Gaza

by admin
Dec 6, 2012

The exiled Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, visited Gaza for the first time today, via the Egyptian border crossing, after his safety was assured.

Travelling with a convoy of masked Hamas fighters from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades - Hamas' military wing, Meshaal visited the charred remains of Ahmed al-Jaabari's car, the military commander of Hamas who was killed by an Israeli airstrike last month.

Meshaal was appointed leader after Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was assassinated by Israel in 2004.

Speaking later that day, Meshaal said:

“I hope God will make me a martyr on the land of Palestine in Gaza.”

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Yigal Palmor, said,  

“This visit by Meshaal, which follows that of the Qatari emir and the Egyptian Prime Minister and other officials, proves there is no Israeli blockade on Gaza.”

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button