News - Middle East: The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has rejected accusations of targeting civilians as the fighting rages across the occupied territories since the resistance groups launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm on Saturday.

Osama Hamadan, senior spokesperson of Hamas, has told Al Jazeera that they are not attacking civilians.
“You have to differentiate between settlers and civilians; settlers attacked Palestinians,” Hamdan said.
 “We are not targeting civilians on purpose. We have declared settlers are part of the occupation and part of the armed Israeli force. They are not civilians,” Hamadan added.
His remarks came after a number of Western-backed rights groups, including Amnesty International, accused the resistance movement of killing “Israeli civilians” in their retaliatory strikes.
Asked whether civilians in southern Israel were considered settlers, the Hamas spokesman said “Everyone knows there are settlements there.”
On Saturday, the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement launched its large-scale operation,  with a heavy barrage of rockets in response to Israel’s desecration of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence. 
At least 400 Israeli settlers and forces have died as a result of the large-scale operation — code-named Al-Aqsa Storm — and more than 2000 others have sustained injuries.
Following the operation, a spokesperson for the Israeli defense forces confirmed that Israeli settlers and soldiers are held captive in Gaza, however, the spokesperson declined to specify the number of hostages.
According to Israeli media outlets, unofficial estimates suggest that approximately 750 Israeli soldiers and settlers have been missing since fighting broke out.
Hospital officials in the Gaza Strip have recorded the death of 320 Palestinians and the injury of 1,990 others. A large number of buildings, homes, and public facilities have also been badly damaged due to heavy Israeli bombardments.
The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said on its Telegram channel that the group had directed a “major missile strike on the settlement of Sderot with 100 missiles.”
The Qassam Brigades also called on Palestinians  “to join this battle” as fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters continues.