"Our weapons of resistance…are not for rent. Our weapons are for the sake of Palestine and we shall not lay them down until we achieve the goal of liberating Palestine,” the movement’s Secretary General Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shalah said on Thursday.

Abdullah’s remarks came during an interview with Beirut-based al-Mayadeen channel which was conducted in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

He said the so-called peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel are a waste of time and have only caused more pain and sorrow for the people of Palestine.

The senior official of the resistance movement added that Palestinians cannot remain silent on Israel’s illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and Judaization of al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Abdullah made the remarks amid mounting tensions in the Gaza Strip following rounds of tit-for-tat attacks by Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance fighters in the blockaded territory.

The escalation began on March 11 when an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians in the southern city of Khan Yunis. The deadly incident triggered a series of retaliatory attacks between the two sides.

The Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas, which rules the besieged coastal enclave, has blamed Tel Aviv for the escalation of tensions in the region.

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has called for the full re-occupation of Gaza in the wake of the violence.

Gaza remains under a crippling blockade which has been in place for over seven years. The blockade - which in effect cuts off the populated sliver from the rest of the world - has caused a decline in the standards of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.

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