Try to assassinate Sinwar and we'll respond with suicide bombings, Hamas tells Israel

Gaza Strip-based Hamas terrorist group threatened Israel with violent escalation including suicide bombings should Israel make an attempt on the life of leader Yahya Sinwar or other top operatives, Palestinian media reported on Saturday. 

A Hamas delegation in Egypt -- which in recent years emerged as a reliable mediator between the Jewish state and the Palestinian terrorist group -- said that "a return by Israel to the policy of assassinations of Hamas leaders will cause the return of explosions and bombings in occupied cities."

Israel is facing a wave of terrorist violence that claimed 19 lives in the past two months, which many link to Sinwar's incendiary rhetoric about the unrest at Jerusalem's Temple Mount site. 

In the aftermath of the Elad attack that left three dead and several wounded on Thursday evening, Hamas' delegation in Egypt said that any attempt to assassinate Sinwar would trigger an immediate war, while also stating that such attempts "do not frighten" them in the slightest.

"The price of such stupidity is known to the enemy," Hamas representatives in Cairo reportedly said.

Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political wing of Hamas, said earlier that "the threats of assassination from the leaders will not prevent us from defending our land and our holy sites."

Last year, Gazan terrorists fired thousands of rockets at Israel during an 11-day war, killing 15 Israelis.