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.”
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.