Haniyeh: Israel will pay heavy price

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's deputy political bureau chief in Gaza, warned Israel against attacking Gaza again.

"Israel will pay a heavy price if it attempts to start war against Gaza," Haniyeh said in his statement during the commemorative ceremony marking the seventh anniversary of Operation Cast Lead.

"The three wars strengthened the resistance and the military Palestinian resistance and military capability; therefore Palestine is more powerful than the past," Haniyeh added.

Meanwhile, Israeli Welfare and Social Services Minister Haim Katz urged Palestinians to leave the country.

"Israel is a territorial integrity. There is no such thing as Palestine. Palestinians should go to Jordan, Gaza, Saudi Arabia Kuwait, Egypt or to Iraq. They know how to manipulate and they know how to play," Israeli Welfare and Social Services Minister Haim Katz said to Israel's Channel 7 television.

According to the U.N. report published in 1950, more than half of the Palestinian population was forced to leave their homeland.

According to the figures of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 85 percentage of the total Palestinian territory is controlled by Israel.