Hamas lets Gaza residents pose with weapons

The armed wing of Gaza’s rulers Hamas has put its weapons on public display, in a first open event drawing hundreds of Palestinians including children brandishing rocket launchers for selfies.

Dressed in black balaclavas and tactical camouflage suits, members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades mingled with young men and women at the exhibition in Gaza City’s Unknown Soldier’s Square.

“Resistance is an image and a memory. Take souvenir photos with many of Al-Qassam’s weapons,” the group said in an invitation on social media and posters in mosques.

The event was the first at which Hamas has allowed the public to take photos of weapons.

It follows the latest surge in worsening Israeli-Palestinian violence, which cost 16 Palestinian and four Israeli lives in the occupied West Bank over six days in late June.