A pro-Hamas rally in Ramallah. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Times of Israel – Hamas announced the creation of a “popular army” in the Gaza Strip on Friday, saying it was ready for any future conflict with Israel, particularly over the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque site at The Temple Mount.

At a ceremony at the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of the devastated Palestinian territory, a spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades — the military arm of the Islamist Hamas — said 2,500 recruits would form “the first section of the popular army for the liberation of Al-Aqsa [mosque] and of Palestine”.

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