GAZA CITY ( 2009-01-05 20:18:30 ) :The armed wing of Hamas said on Monday that it has ‘thousands’ of fighters ready to battle Israel in Gaza, in a second defiant televised address by the Islamists in a day.

"We have prepared thousands of brave fighters who are waiting for you in each corner of the street and will welcome you with fire and iron," Abu Obeida, the spokesman for the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a broadcast on Hamas's Al-Aqsa television channel.

"We tell you in all confidence that your defeat in the Gaza Strip is approaching with every hour," he said. "As long as the aggression intensifies, your losses will increase and you will sink further into the Gaza quagmire.

"God willing, we are at the gates of victory and the Zionist Jews will suffer only defeat and humiliation."

"The Qassams still have many means and have up to now used only a part of their forces," he said.



Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2009