Hamas called Defense Minister Israel Katz a terrorist for commanding the IDF to take over a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, the terrorist organization said in a Tuesday post on Telegram.
Hamas described Katz's order as a "fascist and terrorist call," accusing the minister of ordering the camp's destruction.
Katz's command, one of several recent instructions ordering increased IDF action in the West Bank, came following a weekend of violent incidents in the area, including a terror attack at Gilad Farm in which two Israelis were killed; Maj. Yuval Ezra, 27, an artillery battery commander, and Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Benyahu Mellet, 32, a member of Gilad Farm’s local security team.
Hamas said Katz's instructions for the IDF mark an "explicit expression of the genocidal and criminal mentality that governs the occupation's leaders, as well as an expression of their willingness to commit the most heinous crimes and violations against our Palestinian people."
The statement further alluded to comments by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich regarding IDF action in other West Bank Palestinian areas, with Hamas emphasizing what it called "the extremist Zionist government's criminal plans against the occupied West Bank."
The terror group called on the United Nations and the international community at large to condemn Katz and "hold the occupation leaders accountable for their crimes."
"We call on our people across the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the occupied territories of 1948 to unite and mobilize to confront the crimes of the far-right occupation government and its settler groups, and to escalate resistance at all points of contact and confrontation," the statement concluded.
IDF lifts ban on Palestinian workers in Israeli West Bank communities
Hamas's statement comes after the IDF lifted its ban on Palestinian workers entering Israeli West Bank communities.
The ban, initially imposed by Central Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Avi Bluth on Saturday following the Gilad Farm terror attack, was lifted on Monday, the IDF told military reporters.