A senior Islamic Hamas official denied on Friday the earlier Israeli reports saying that the movement has inaugurated in Gaza a military academy to train militants on fighting Israel.

Ismail Radwan said in a press statement that the Israeli report" is false and inaccurate. It is just a poor attempt to justify the occupation's defeat during the war on the Gaza Strip."

On Thursday, the Israeli Jerusalem newspaper revealed that Hamas movement has established a military academy to train militants in Gaza on fighting Israeli in case the latter carries out another large-scale military offensive on the enclave.

The Israeli army had carried out a ground, air and sea military offensive on the Gaza Strip that lasted for 22 days and ended on January 18, aiming at weakening Hamas movement and other Gaza militant groups.

"The occupation (Israel) is still stumble and confused after it was defeated in the war and tries to market a victory in order to rise the mood of its soldiers by publishing inaccurate and false reports," said Radwan.

Hamas movement and its armed wing have been ruling the Gaza Strip since the summer of 2007, after it routed by force the security forces of the west-supported president Mahmoud Abbas.

"The occupation has failed in the war on Gaza to uproot Hamas movement, and it should stop publishing such lies because senior military officials in the Israeli army admitted they were defeated by Hamas," said Radwan.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2009)