Leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Osama Hamdan, confirmed that the movement is “open to any ideas or proposals” to stop the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip completely and definitively, reiterating that the occupation will not see its captives held by the resistance alive until after a comprehensive cessation of the aggression.
He said – in a press conference in Beirut broadcast by Manhattan Tribune – that the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip do not want a temporary or partial halt to the aggression against Gaza, but rather want a comprehensive halt.
He renewed the Hamas movement’s position on the issue of Israeli detainees held by the resistance in Gaza, saying, “The occupation leaders will not see their prisoners held by the resistance alive, except after a comprehensive cessation of aggression and through negotiation in a manner consistent with the interests of the Palestinian people.”
Osama warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against trying to free their prisoners through military pressure. He said, “Is there a single prisoner that Netanyahu freed without submitting to the conditions of resistance?” He stressed that under military pressure the detainees will return as lifeless bodies in coffins, and perhaps they will never return.
On the other hand, the leader of the Hamas movement spoke about the proposals being put forward regarding the post-war phase in Gaza, and stressed that managing the Palestinian issue is “an internal Palestinian national decision, and our people will not accept leadership that comes to them on the back of a Zionist or American tank, or under the protection of this tank.” He added, “The Palestinian people today want a national leadership that carries the liberation project, and is committed to resistance in all its forms to achieve its national goals, especially armed resistance.”
In the same context, he criticized what he called the misinformation campaigns directed at Hamas, stressing that those leading them are “hostile parties using media that revolves around Zionist orbit,” but they will not succeed in distorting the truth of the movement’s positions.
He spoke about the human tragedy left behind by the Israeli aggression on Gaza, and presented the toll of martyrs and wounded who fell during 83 days of the aggression, about 22 thousand martyrs and more than 56 thousand wounded, in addition to missing persons who are still under the rubble of destroyed homes.
Regarding what is happening in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, he said that the Israeli aggression there left 313 martyrs and injured more than 3,000, which is a continuation of the plans of the Netanyahu government, but it will not succeed in achieving its goals, as the leader indicated.
In this same context, Osama called on members of the Palestinian security services and national security in the West Bank to “break the restrictions and point their rifles at the occupation soldiers and the herds of settlers, and to join their brothers in the resistance brigades in the West Bank.”
