Islamic Jihad builds watchtower near Gaza border

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement said on Wednesday that its military wing had completed the construction of a watchtower in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Abu Khalid, a leader of the al-Quds Brigades, told Ma’an that the watchtower had been built 300 meters away from the borderline with Israel in the al-Farahin area in the southern Gaza Strip district of Khan Yunis.

According to him, the al-Khallil Hills in the occupied West Bank could be seen from the top of the tower, which he said was 16 meters high.

The tower was reportedly named after Diyaa Talahmah, a Palestinian youth who was killed by Israeli forces during clashes in the southern West Bank in September 2015.

Abu Khalid said that the watchtower was an attempt to “give some tranquility of mind to the residents of the border areas, and to implant the spirit of resistance in the future generations," and would be used to monitor the movement of Israeli army vehicles in the area.

He added that the watchtower was also to show support to "our people in the West Bank and the occupied al-Quds ('Jerusalem'), and al-Khalil ('Hebron') in particular," amid the ongoing wave of anti-occupation operations that began last year.

"It is a confirmation of the national unity of our homeland and a message of challenge to the occupation," Abu Khalid said.