Special to WorldTribune.com

GAZA CITY — Hamas has been training teenagers to help repel any invasion by neighboring Egypt and Israel.

The Hamas military recruited thousands of high school students for a six-day course that included shooting and bombings.

Instructors came from Hamas’ military wing, Izzedin Kassam, and also focused on teaching the teenagers to detect Israeli espionage.

“They [Israel] will be confronted by a Palestinian generation that will not know weakness,” Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said.

In a graduation ceremony on Jan. 14, officials said the so-called Mutawa program recruited 13,000 high school students for military training at 10 sites in the Gaza Strip. They said the cadets, in a program coordinated by the Education Ministry, practiced on the Soviet-origin AK-47 assault rifle.

Officials said Hamas has long been recruiting teenagers for paramilitary operations, many of whom were eventually accepted by Izzedin Kassam and the Interior Ministry. They said the youngsters would play an important role in blocking any invasion by Egypt or Israel.

Over the last few months, Egypt’s military has threatened Hamas and its
Palestinian militias, accused of helping the Islamist revolt in the Sinai
Peninsula. Hamas has denied intervention in Egyptian affairs.

The cadets were told that Hamas could employ them for attacks along the
Israeli border. They said the youngsters could also be assigned to organize
civilian resistance to any invasion.

  000 teenagers in shooting, bombing and spotting Israeli spies, Hamas trains 13, Ismail Haniyeh, Israeli invaders, Izzedin Kassam, Mutawa