Khaled al-Batsh,  a member of the Politburo of Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and its leader in Gaza, said in an interview with the Voice of Al-Quds radio station on Monday said that his organization “will not hesitate to respond to any assassination of any Palestinian leader.”

If Israel eliminated any PIJ leaders, as it did before the conflict last week, “the effect of the military capabilities in pressuring the occupation and its encouragement to comply with our conditions could be seen.”

“The campaign against the enemy is not carried out in a victorious blow and is not measured by the number of martyrs, but is rather a campaign for justice and it is tested by the degree of our ability to stand firm and keep our breath and protect the rights and adhere to them,” said Batsh, emphasizing the “need to prepare from now on for the next round of combat that will occur whenever there is a need to defend any arena or respond to any assassination”.

Before the conflict that saw the PIJ fire more than 1,000 rockets at Israeli cities, al-Batsh  told The Media Line that his organization intended to attack the center of Israel.

“We have every right to bomb Israel with our most advanced weapons, and make the occupier pay a heavy price. We will not settle for attacking around Gaza, but we will bomb the center of the so-called State of Israel,” al-Batsh said.

An IDF report claimed that at least 14  of the 47 Palestinians killed in the recent conflict, close to one-third, may have been killed by errant rockets fired by the Palestinian side. An estimated 200 of the 1,100 rockets fired by the PIJ landed inside Gaza.