The announcement by the Israeli foreign ministry to build an Israeli pavilion at the 2020 World Expo in Dubai is normalization activity rejected and deplored, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qasem said.

In a press release on Monday, Qasem called on all sides seeking to normalise ties with the Israeli occupation to put an end to this behaviour, which encourages the Israeli occupation to escalate its crimes against the Palestinian people and violations against their holy sites.

“The Israeli occupation should remain the arch-foe of the [Arab and Islamic] Ummah,” Qasem concluded.