A senior Islamic Hamas movement leader said Thursday that the anti-Israel marches of return will continue in eastern Gaza Strip on the border with Israel.

Hammad al Reqeb, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said in an emailed statement that the marches of return and breaking the Israeli blockade that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for 12 years will go on powerfully and there will be no retreat.

"Activities of marches and protests in eastern Gaza Strip will go on and will increase tomorrow (Friday)," he added.

The Palestinian High Commission of the Marches of Return and Breaking the Siege announced on Thursday that the marches of return in eastern Gaza Strip will go on until it achieves its goals.

The commission called in a press statement on the populations of the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave to gather in eastern Gaza Strip on Friday afternoon close to the border with Israel for more anti-Israel protests and demonstrations.

On Wednesday, Israeli war jets attacked 20 targets that belong to militant groups in the Gaza Strip in response to firing a rocket from the enclave into southern Israel, causing severe destruction to several Israeli houses.

In one of the airstrikes on northern Gaza Strip, one 26-year-old Palestinian man was killed and three injured.

Hamas and other minor militant groups said on Wednesday in a joint statement that they are not responsible for the rocket which was fired from Gaza and landed into southern Israel.

Well-informed Palestinian sources close to Hamas in Gaza said that intensive contacts conducted by Egypt and the United Nations on Wednesday "prevented a 4th large-scale Israeli war that was going to be waged on the Gaza Strip."

Meanwhile, an Egyptian security source said that "the visit of the chief of the Egyptian Security Intelligence General Abbas Kamel to Gaza to mediate calm between Hamas and Israel wasn't cancelled."

"A new date for General Kamel's visit to Gaza will be arranged on the light of the ongoing contacts with Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Gaza soon," said the source.

However, Palestinian security sources in Gaza said Kamel's visit to Gaza again, which was scheduled on Thursday and was called off due to escalation of violence, is linked to security developments on the ground. 

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