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Palestinian groups conduct first-ever joint military drill

Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and other groups held the exercise to prepare for a future conflict with Israel.

Fighters take part in military exercises by Palestinian armed factions, featuring mock Israeli military targets and vehicles, at a military site in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on December 29, 2020. - Palestinian armed groups staged military exercises in Gaza, including firing rockets into the sea, to mark the anniversary of the start of the 2008 conflict with Israel. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP) (Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images)
Fighters take part in military exercises by Palestinian armed factions, featuring mock Israeli military targets and vehicles, at a military site in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Dec. 29, 2020. — SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images

Palestinian armed groups conducted what was described as an unprecedented joint military drill in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

The exercise was the first of its kind and included all Palestinian “resistance” groups in Gaza, the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV reported. The drill sought to prepare the Palestinian groups for a future conflict with Israel, according to the outlet.

The factions shot eight rockets from Gaza into the Mediterranean Sea in the drill. The exercise will also include simulated land and sea operations, Reuters reported.

The political and military organization Hamas controls the Gaza Strip internally and has on-and-off clashes with Israel. Other groups fight Israel from the Palestinian enclave as well, including the Islamic Jihad. Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and smaller groups took part in Tuesday’s drill, the Israeli news outlet Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

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