RAMALLAH: The Hamas movement on Wednesday denied Israeli intelligence reports that it recently successfully tested a missile that can reach the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, head of Military Intelligence for the Israel Army, said Tuesday that Hamas has recently tested a rocket capable of reaching targets at a distance of 60 km, which means the Tel Aviv area is under threat of rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said the Israeli claim is “a pre-emptive step by the Zionist enemy to influence international opinion ahead of the General Assembly’s discussion of the Goldstone report. This crisis has pushed the Zionist enemy to create these kinds of fabrications.”

Abu Obadiah, the spokesman of Hamas’ armed wing Izz Ed-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, said they “are not interested in responding to the Zionist intelligence reports, they can say whatever they want.”

“We cannot confirm, deny or clarify these statements,” Abu Obadiah said in a statement posted on the group’s website.

During an Israeli war on Gaza last winter, Hamas fired tens of Russian-made Grad rockets that flew 40 km, the farthest destination the Gaza rockets could reach.