Israel Cannot Vanquish Gaza: Hamas Chief Meshaal

Israel will never defeat Gaza, Khaled Meshaal, the exiled chief of the Hamas movement which rules the Palestinian territory, said in a defiant speech in Sudan on Thursday.

"This enemy is weak and cannot vanquish Gaza," Meshaal told a major conference of Sudanese Islamists.

His visit to Sudan came as warplanes from the Jewish state pounded Gaza for a second day on Thursday, in Israel's toughest assault on the territory in four years.

The latest fighting began with Israel's targeted killing of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jaabari on Wednesday. Since then, militants have fired around 250 rockets over the border, an Israeli official said.

"I call on my brothers who have their fingers on the trigger to run the battle wisely and with a brave heart. The war against the enemy will go on even after Jaabari departed us. Women and men are queuing for jihad and martyrdom," Meshaal said in a half-hour speech which described Israel as "not a legitimate entity."

He also pledged to stand by Sudan which last month accused Israel of bombing a military factory.

"I want to say to the Sudanese: our enemy is your enemy and our enemy is fighting you on Sudanese land, in Port Sudan and in Yarmouk," Meshaal said.

"Our hands are with yours."

Israeli officials have expressed concern about arms smuggling through Sudan and have long accused the African country of serving as a support base for Hamas militants.

Khartoum blamed Israel for sending four radar-evading aircraft to strike the Yarmouk military factory in the heart of Khartoum at midnight on October 23, and then said Israel was spreading "fabricated information" about links between the military factory, Hamas and Iran.

But Meshaal said Sudan is "on the top" among supporters for the Hamas armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Israel refused all comment on Khartoum's accusation that it bombed the Yarmouk facility.

In April last year, Sudan said it had irrefutable evidence that Israeli attack helicopters carried out a missile and machinegun strike on a car south of Port Sudan.

Israel again refused to comment.

Meshaal, a frequent visitor to Sudan, joined thousands of delegates at the four-yearly meeting of Sudan's Islamist Movement, which is linked to the ruling National Congress Party.

Meshaal is among more than 120 foreign Islamists from 30 countries attending the three-day conference.