ISTANBUL

Palestinian resistance group Hamas said Sunday that a stabbing attack near Tel Aviv on Sunday was a "natural response" to ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.

In a statement, Hamas condemned the “continued fascist crimes” of the Israeli occupation, citing the brutal war in Gaza on innocent civilians, escalating violations in the occupied West Bank, and last week’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh by what it called the “extremist Zionist government.”

Hamas stressed that Israel’s “ongoing violations of international laws would not go unpunished,” and affirmed that the Palestinian people would continue their “resistance against Israeli aggression and retaliation for its crimes against their land and sanctities.”

On Sunday morning, two Israelis were killed and two others were seriously injured in a stabbing attack in Holon, near Tel Aviv.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied Palestinian territories amid a deadly Israeli offensive that has killed nearly 40,000 people in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

At least 600 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,400 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.

In a landmark opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal" and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi