Al-Aqsa Mosque is our 'red line': Hamas chief

DOHA, Qatar

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that the group repeatedly warned Israel not to touch Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“We have repeatedly warned the enemy not to touch Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is our qibla, our identity, our belief, and the trigger of our revolutions,” Haniyeh said in a video conference in Qatar’s capital, Doha, in support of Palestinians.

He said that Al-Aqsa Mosque is the group's “red line” and it told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to play with fire.

“Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque form the basis of the struggle against Zionism,” he said, and thanked Qatar for helping the Palestinian people.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in airstrikes since May 10, killing at least 145 people, including 41 children and 23 women, and injuring 1,100 others.

At least five multi-story buildings have also been destroyed in air raids on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar