Haniyeh calls on Palestinians to honor cease-fire

Hamas PM warns J'lem that attacks on Gaza will be answered, expresses satisfaction with Egyptian-brokered truce.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh waves to people as they celebrate 3 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh waves to people as they celebrate 3
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Defiant Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders Thursday expressed satisfaction with the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire agreement and warned Israel against attacking the Gaza Strip again.
“We are satisfied with the truce agreement, which constitutes a basis for halting the enemy’s aggression against our people,” Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh declared in a televised “victory” speech.
“Our main goal will remain to remove the occupation so that our people would be able to establish their free state on all of Palestine and Jerusalem.”
Affirming his movement’s commitment to the ceasefire deal, Haniyeh called on all Palestinian groups to honor the agreement. He warned Israel that “if you return [to attack us], we will also return.” Haniyeh saluted Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for their “steadfastness” during the IDF offensive.
“I am proud to be the prime minister of this struggling people,” he said.
“This is a great victory.”
Haniyeh claimed that Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups had “surprised” Israel which, he added, failed to achieve the military operation’s goals.
“The resistance has changed the rules of the game with the occupation and confused its military and political calculations,” he added. “The idea of invading the Gaza Strip has ended and will never return.”
Haniyeh said that the “victory was an important step on the road to liberating all of Palestine.”
Mohamed Hindi, leader of Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, told supporters during a rally that the “rockets of the resistance have become the only means to deter Israel.”
Hindi boasted that the Palestinian groups have succeeded in creating a “balance of terror” with Israel at a time when Arab governments only issued condemnations.
Hindi said that the path of a peaceful settlement with Israel has reached an impasse and “the only way to liberate Palestine and achieve independence is through resistance.”
Today, he added, the Palestinians are “closer to Palestine thanks to their steadfastness and resistance.”
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Hamas’s armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, said that the Palestinians have managed to impose their conditions on Israel by achieving “victory.” However, the group warned that the “battle with the enemy has not ended and the next liberation battle is coming.”
Abu Obaida, spokesman for Izzadin Kassam, said in a press conference outside the home of slain Hamas commander Ahmed Jabari that there was “no room for Zionists on any part of our occupied land.”
Abu Obaida said that Hamas and other Palestinian groups fired 1,573 rockets at Israel during the conflict – at a rate of 200 per day. He added that the next time Hamas will fire rockets at Israel carrying the name of Ahmed Jabari.
Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, Al-Quds Battalions, said in a statement that Israel has become a “toy” in the hands of the Palestinians.
The group described the results of the confrontation as a “divine victory.” It said that its men fired 620 rockets at Israel in the past eight days and vowed to continue jihad against Israel.