BEIRUT (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Osama Hamdan, a leader in the Hamas Movement, confirmed during a press conference in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Tuesday evening that despite the scale of massacres, genocide, displacement, and the destruction of all aspects of human life, carried out by “the Nazi occupation for more than seven months, using all kinds of excessive military force with open and continuous American support, Netanyahu and his extremist government did not achieve any of their aggressive goals, and their plans were shattered one after another against the rock of our people’s resilience and the bravery of our resistance.”
Hamdan said, “The Movement’s acceptance of the proposal of the mediators in Egypt and Qatar is the result of long, difficult, complex, and continuous negotiations over the past weeks and months, during which several proposals were presented that did not meet the conditions of the resistance or the national demands of our people. We insisted on our demands and showed flexibility where necessary.”
He added that despite the pressure and severity of the aggression, fierce negotiations, and the enemy’s attempts to intensify its aggression and fire during the rounds of negotiations and at critical moments, “we remained steadfast with the resilience of our people and the effectiveness of our resistance, and we set red lines that cannot be violated or compromised.”
He pointed out that this acceptance emanates from the responsibility of “the Movement towards our people in the Gaza Strip and its deep concern for its interests, rights, constants, and sacrifices, and in a positive response to the role of the mediators in achieving this deal.”
Positive spirit
Hamdan stressed that the Movement, in all stages of these negotiations, displayed a positive and responsible spirit and tried to overcome all obstacles that hindered reaching a satisfactory deal, while safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people and ensuring a complete cessation of aggression, withdrawal from all areas of the Gaza Strip, unconditional return of displaced people to their homes and areas, imposing reconstruction and relief for the Palestinian people, and reaching a serious deal for prisoner exchange.
Hamdan said, “We express our deep appreciation and thanks to the mediators in Cairo and Doha, who made strenuous and continuous efforts to reach this agreement.”
Minimum demands of our people
He pointed out that “this agreement, in its provisions, conditions, and stages, has secured the main issues of our people’s demands and our resistance in permanently stopping the aggression, the withdrawal of the occupation from the entire Gaza Strip, the free return of the displaced, relief and reconstruction, and achieving a genuine and serious prisoner exchange deal.”
He emphasized that this agreement has aborted the Israeli wish to have only one stage in which it would release its detainees held by the resistance, then resume its aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Hamdan said, “We received assurances and guarantees from the mediators that, upon accepting their proposal, they would have a role in completing all stages of the agreement and pressuring the occupation to commit to its texts and implement them without procrastination or evasion. These assurances and guarantees were repeated after announcing the acceptance of their proposal.”
An agreement that represents national consensus
He also noted that the Movement, throughout the stages of this agreement, maintained constant and continuous communication and consultation with the brothers in the resistance factions, led by the Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement, Ziyad al-Nakhala, and the Deputy Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Jameel Mizhir, and all the Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip.
Hamdan said, “The Movement’s acceptance of the mediators’ proposal puts the American administration before a litmus test. It is necessary for this administration to abandon its bias towards the Zionist war criminals, its partnership in the genocide, and instead pressure them to stop the aggression and the genocide against innocent civilians and to stop the planned crime in the city of Rafah.”
He stressed that Netanyahu’s futile maneuver, through attempts to evade the obligations of the agreement does not deceive anyone.
The ball is in Netanyahu’s court
The Hamas leader said, “We affirm that the ball is now in Netanyahu’s court and his extremist government, and their behavior after the Movement’s announcement reflects Netanyahu’s insistence on obstructing all efforts of the mediators, including the American administration. He doesn’t care about the lives of his detainees held by the resistance, who are threatened with death every day by the shells and missiles of his army.”
He added that the ball is also in the court of the American administration, which must demonstrate its seriousness and credibility in compelling the “terrorist Netanyahu government” to implement the agreement.
Invasion of the Rafah Crossing is a Crime
He pointed out that the Israeli occupation army’s invasion of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt is a crime and a dangerous escalation against a civilian facility protected by international law, and a blatant violation of all norms and international conventions.
Hamdan also warned that the Israeli invasion and occupation of the Rafah crossing aims to exacerbate the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip by preventing the flow of emergency relief aid to the besieged people who are subjected to a systematic genocide and starvation by the Nazi occupation army.
He added that the occupation army’s invasion of the Rafah crossing, and its savage and criminal shelling, with the insistence of Netanyahu and his extremist war cabinet, is an overt attempt to sabotage all the efforts of the mediators in achieving an agreement to cease the aggression. It is also a desperate attempt to create an illusory image of victory to save face, which will only result in further defeats and humiliation if the aggression continues.
Call on Arab and Islamic World to act
Hamdan said, “To confront the Zionist attack on the Rafah crossing, we call on the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to hold an urgent meeting at the level of foreign ministers and take an immediate and effective stance to stop this violation and compel the occupation to halt its aggression against the resources of our people and our nation.”
He added, “We highly appreciate the stance of our brothers in Egypt in condemning the occupation’s shelling and occupation of the Rafah crossing. We commend their rejection of the occupation’s request to open the crossing under these shelling and occupation conditions, except according to the previous mechanism. We affirm that the Rafah crossing has been and will remain an exclusively Egyptian-Palestinian crossing.”
He also emphasized that Netanyahu and his Nazi government must understand that the Movement and the Palestinian resistance will not respond to any initiative to cease the aggression or exchange deal under military pressure and escalation of aggression.
The Hamas leader called on the United Nations and the international community to exert pressure on Israel to stop this escalation that threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians in Rafah and throughout the Gaza Strip, as well as jeopardizing all the efforts of the mediators to halt the aggression and the genocide.
