Hamas dismisses Netanyahu's threats against Gaza as 'empty electioneering'

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's threats of strikes on Gaza as "useless."

The Islamist movement said in a statement that the Israeli leader was using the threats as part of his efforts to bolster his re-election campaign.

Hamas spokesman Abdulatif al-Qanoua described the Israeli leader's threats as "empty of its content and comes in the frame of his election campaign" in a press statement.

"Netanyahu will certainly lose any new war that will be waged against Gaza, similar to the previous ones," al-Qanoua warned.

During a trip to Ukraine, Netanyahu claimed that Israel would "would not hesitate" to conduct a military operation against the besieged territory in response to three rockets being fired from Gaza at southern Israel.

On Monday, an Israeli minister said that his cabinet is planning a "widespread operation" on the besieged Palestinian enclave Gaza, which has suffered a number of bloody assaults in recent years.

The Netanyahu government is ramping up pressure on the already beleaguered Palestinian territories and has most recently refused to allow Palestinian American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar into the country.

On Friday, 63 Palestinians, including 17 children, were injured by Israeli bullets and tear gas at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

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