Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal kissed the ground upon arriving in the Gaza Strip for the first time on Friday, December 7 to attend celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of the terrorist group, The Jerusalem Post reported. The Hamas leader declared the moment of his arrival in the Strip to be his symbolic “third birth.” Mashaal clarified that his “first birth” was his literal birth, and the second, his survival of an Israeli assassination attempt. His “fourth birth,” Mashaal said, would take place “when the whole of Palestine is liberated.” Meanwhile, Fatah has accepted Hamas’ invitation to participate in celebrations in the Gaza Strip marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Islamist movement. The invitation, the first of its kind in more than a decade, is seen as yet another sign of rapprochement between the rival parties.