Hamas Claims Attacks on Israel Planned for 2 Years: Production of Weapons to Rockets, Received Russian Permit

Hamas military. (Wikimedia Commons/Mujahideen Muqadas)

JAKARTA - A senior Hamas official based in Lebanon said the militant group had been preparing an attack on Israel for two years, according to an edited interview with Russia Today's Arabic-language news channel, RTArabic, published on its website.

"We produce a lot of products," said Ali Baraka, head of Hamas National Relations Abroad, according to CNN, October 12.

"We have local factories for everything," he said.

He further said that these factories can make various rockets with a maximum range of between 10 and 250 kilometers, as well as make mortars and mortar ammunition, he said.

Not only that, Hamas is also said to be capable of producing firearms and bullets.

"We have a factory for Kalashnikovs and bullets. We produce these bullets with permission from Russia. We built it in Gaza," he said.

"None of our factions and even our allies, knew the ground zero of the attack to keep the battle a secret," Baraka claimed.

Baraka did not mention any outside involvement in planning the attack, saying only that Hamas allies supported us with weapons and money. First and foremost, Iran gives us money and weapons, as well as Hezbollah."

It is known that Baraka is a Hamas political official based in Lebanon.

Palestinian factions in Lebanon have not always coordinated closely with their counterparts in Gaza and the West Bank, in part because of strict travel restrictions in both countries.

The attack by Palestinian militant Hamas on Saturday last week on Israeli territory sparked mutual attacks on both sides which resulted in two thousand deaths and thousands of others injured, while hundreds of people were taken hostage.

The Israeli military said the death toll in the country had reached 1,200 on Wednesday and more than 2,700 people were injured.

Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said that at least 950 people were killed and 5,000 others were injured in the densely populated coastal area.