Hamas refutes media reports, warns Israel against attack

Hamas officials say Israel has adopted assassination tactics against the group Palestinian group Hamas has claimed that the reports in Israeli media about it's plans to kidnap and kill Israeli soldiers are to allow the Israeli occupation forces to justify crimes they have committed against the Palestinian leaders.
Hamas spokesperson Moshir el-Masri told reporters: "The reports seen in Israeli media from intelligence agency Shin Bet are part of an Israeli plot to target Hamas’ Interior Minister Fathi Hammad and other leaders."
Masri said that the Israeli government will be responsible for any violation of the truce concluded between the Islamic movement and the Israeli occupation, and warned Israel against carrying out any potential military operation targeting its leaders.
The Hamas official argued that a breach of the ceasefire could lead to a new war, and that Hamas would respond to any attack with force. Masri added that the media reports are a reflection of Israel's failure to hold talks with Palestinian leaders, or deal with the resistance.
He claimed that Israel had adopted assassination tactics against the leaders of Hamas and the Palestinian resistance, adding that the approach had failed to achieve any notable progress on both sides.
On Wednesday, Israeli newspapers reported that the intelligence agency Shin Bet had learnt about Hamas’ Interior Minister Fathi Hammad's instructions to a "terror cell" to kidnap and murder Israeli soldiers in West Bank. The Israeli agency said its information had come from Hamas prisoners locked up in West Bank prisons. Shin Bet accused the Hamas leadership of adopting an extremist stance towards Israel.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that Hamas' efforts to smuggle explosives in the region had been thwarted by the the Israeli occupation forces. Shin Bet sources told the media outlet that the authorities had discovered a link between Gaza-based Hamas and the plot to smuggle explosives during their investigations of Hamas members in the West Bank.
Islam Shahwan, spokesperson of Gaza’s Interior Ministry, said that the Israeli accusations are aimed at distracting people from the national campaign to confront spying.
He argued that the Israeli government had been in contact with Palestinian spies, and told them not to respond to Gaza’s Interior Ministry, so that they could surrender themselves to Hamas authorities and declare their repentance.