Bassem Eid, a senior Palestinian human rights activist and political commentator, writes on the website of i24 News, ‘The majority of Palestinians oppose firing rockets into Israel. The Palestinians have understood that these rockets will achieve nothing. Palestinians have called on Hamas to stop firing on Israel and to try to negotiate with the Israeli occupation. But Hamas has never considered Palestinian needs - only its own political interests. Since Israel began its attack in Gaza on July 8 following an increase in cross-border rocket strikes by Hamas nearly 1,900 Palestinians have died. Hamas continued firing rockets at Israel knowing full well what the result would be. Hamas paved the road for the death of our people. We knew Hamas was digging the tunnels that would lead to our destruction. Hamas was never interested in ‘liberating the Palestinian people from the occupation and Israel could never destroy the infrastructure set up by Hamas. Only we, the Palestinian people, could dismantle it.’ See also: