GAZA: Hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated outside Egypt’s diplomatic mission in Gaza City Friday, to protest a Cairo court ruling designating Hamas’ armed wing as a terrorist group.

They waved green Hamas flags and chanted in support of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades: “Qassam are the pride of the nation, not terrorists!“

In a sign of worsening relations between the movement and the Egyptian government, the Egyptian court banned the Brigades Saturday and declared it a terrorist group.

Egypt accuses Hamas of supporting militants in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders the Gaza Strip, after the killing of scores of security forces in a wave of attacks.

“We call on the Egyptian authorities to overturn this oppressive ruling,” senior Hamas figure Salah Al-Bardawil told journalists at the rally.

“Those who seek to undermine Egypt’s security in Sinai are its enemies, and not Hamas or Qassam,” he said. “The weapons of the Palestinian resistance remain pointed toward the Zionist enemy (Israel), and we will not dirty our hands with Arab blood.”