Hamas slams Israel lawsuit against leading group member

By Nur Abu Aysha

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Hamas has blasted a lawsuit filed this week by the head of an Israeli NGO against leading Hamas member Ismail Haniyeh, describing the suit as “defamation”.

“The Israeli occupation continues to do all it can to tarnish the image of the [Palestinian] resistance,” Hazim Qassim, a spokesman for the Gaza-based group, told Anadolu Agency late Monday.

The Israeli occupation, Qassim said, “wants to alter the facts and perform sleight of hand before the international community”.

He went on to assert that the Palestinian resistance against the occupation was “legitimate according to all laws and international norms”.

He described the legal case filed against Haniyeh as a part of the “psychological war” being waged by Israel against Hamas.

“The real criminal in this case is the occupation, which massacred defenseless civilians in Gaza -- including 578 children -- during its 2014 military onslaught,” he said.

On Monday, Israeli lawyer Michael Myers, founder of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, an Israeli NGO, lodged a legal case against Haniyeh at The Hague-based International Criminal Court.

The lawsuit accuses Haniyeh of “violating Palestinians’ human rights” by allegedly using civilians in Gaza as “human shields” during the 2014 conflict.

While Israeli officials have frequently accused Hamas of resorting to the use of “human shields”, little evidence has ever been produced to support the assertion.

Israel’s 2014 military onslaught against the blockaded Gaza Strip left more than 2,300 Palestinians dead and much of the strip’s infrastructure in ruins.

At least 70 Israelis -- 65 soldiers and five civilians -- were also killed in the conflict, according to Israeli figures.