More than 10,000 militants of al- Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, paraded on Sunday in Gaza City celebrating the end of 38 years of Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Thousands of masked militants wearing military uniform gathered at the al-Yarmook soccer stadium, holding M16 rifles and carrying R.B.G anti-tanks missiles on their shoulders.

A militant chief said this march is to express happiness of the Palestinian people and Hamas supporters for the end of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas will never drop its arms and will continue armed resistance until the rest of the occupied territories is liberated, the leader added.

The Israeli army pulled out from the Gaza Strip last Monday after it evacuated about 9,000 settlers from all 21 settlements in Gaza and four out of 120 in the northern West Bank in August.

This is the first Israeli withdrawal from land the Palestinians want for a state.

Palestinian security officials said this parade of Hamas is not only to celebrate the end of the Israeli occupation, but also a challenge to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas announced earlier that the PNA will dismantle all militant groups, mainly Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah.

However, militant leaders of these groups rejected disarmament, vowing never to drop arms in case Israel invades Gaza in the future.

Source: Xinhua