Hamas leader Khaled Mashal on Saturday defended his group's rocket barrage on southern Israel last week as "legitimate resistance," and promised more of the same if Israel did not stop acting against Palestinian terrorists in Judea and Samaria.
"Our people are entitled to respond to the daily atrocities perpetrated by Israel," Mashal told reporters in Cairo following a meeting with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.
Hamas claimed credit for the firing of dozens of rockets and mortar shells at communities in southern Israel last Tuesday, marking the first time in months that the group had openly participated in such an attack.
In remarks published on the website of Hamas' military wing, Ezzedeen Al-Kassam, Hamas official Abu Obaida said the barrage was meant to send a message, and represented only a fraction of the firepower the group could unleash on Israel.
Abu Obaida said that Hamas could hit southern Israel with 100 rockets an hour if its full resources were put into action.