JERUSALEM, 5 May, 2021 (TON): The military wing leader Mohammed Deif of the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, warned Israel will pay heavy price if attacks against Palestinian residents in occupied East Jerusalem continue. 

“The Qassam Brigades will not stand idly by in the face of attacks on the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood,” Mohammed Deif, the brigade's commander, said in a written statement on Tuesday night.   

“They will pay a heavy price if the aggression against our people in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood does not stop immediately,” he said, adding they are closely following developments. 

Deif, who has been on Israel’s wanted list for years, praised the “steadfast people” in Sheikh Jarrah, who are facing imminent forced displacement from their homes. 

The neighborhood was raided by Israeli forces for the second night on Tuesday. The residents and solidarity protesters were sprayed with skunk water, a chemically enhanced type of sewage water, and were physically assaulted. Several Palestinians were arrested.  

Gaza, with a population of more than 2 million, is governed by the Hamas movement but the enclave remains under a strict Israeli land, air and naval blockade.