Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Friday that financial pressure from an "unholy alliance" led by the United States will not bring down the new Hamas government, according to Reuters. Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters poured onto Gaza's streets after Friday prayers to attend Hamas-sponsored rallies protesting aid cuts by the European Union and the United States. Asserting that Palestinians were prepared to make sacrifices to keep Hamas in power, Haniyeh said: "We will eat cooking oil and olives." Haniyeh said the consequences of bringing down the current government would be "grave". He suggested that the Islamic militant group would be able to prevent any other government from forming to replace Hamas, which took power last month after winning parliamentary elections in January. Washington and the European Union cut aid to the Hamas-led government because it has not renounced violence, recognised Israel or agreed to abide by interim peace deals. --SP 23 21 Local Time 20 21 GMT
