By Anadolu staff
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Friday endorsed a fire attack in Kiryat Malachi in southern Israel, calling it a "normal response to the Israeli genocidal war" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas said in a statement, without claiming responsibility, that the attack was "a normal response to the genocidal war committed by the (Israeli) criminal occupation army against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."
The resistance group urged the Palestinian people to "extend the circle of confrontation" against the Israeli army, stressing that the "enemy only understands the language of force."
Earlier, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that two Israelis were killed and four others injured in the fire attack in Kiryat Malachi.
An initial investigation suggests that the Palestinian perpetrator is from the Shuafat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem, the media outlet claimed.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The ensuing Israeli attack had killed at least 28,775, injured more than 68,552 others, and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar