Hamas said Thursday that the continuation of Israel’s eight-year blockade will force the political movement to take action, according to a spokesman for the group.

“The continuation of the blockade will push Hamas to carry out actions which could be described as crazy. We will not give in to the blockade,” Sami Abu Zuhri told a crowd in Rafah.

Demonstrators had gathered in the southern city to protest against Egypt’s closure of the border crossing and the decision to label Hamas’ military wing as a “terrorist” group.

Abu Zuhri called for an immediate end to the siege on Gaza and stressed that the Al-Qassam Brigades have the right to respond.

He called on Egypt to review the decision to label the group as terrorists, but said it will not affect the military wing, adding that “Hamas was never a side in the Egyptian crisis.”

He added: “The (Egyptian) decision is irrelevant to us, and Hamas is stronger than to be affected by these impotent decisions which aim to externalize the crisis.”

“We are proud of the Al-Qassam Brigades, which forced Netanyahu to withdraw his army from the Gaza border.”

He referred to the Egyptian judge who passed the decision as a “criminal.”

Last month, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the largest service provider in the Gaza Strip, announced that it was forced to stop a cash assistance program for tens of thousands of Palestinians to make repairs to damaged and destroyed homes due to a lack of donor funding.

Over 96,000 homes were damaged or destroyed during Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, which also killed over 2,000 people, the majority of whom were civilians.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)