The deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau Saleh al-Aruri spoke on Thursday in an interview with Al-Jazeera satellite channel about Operation &ldquoAl-Aqsa Flood&rdquo which al-Qassam Brigades launched last Saturday as well as the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
&ldquoWhat is happening now is an advanced round of a long battle against the enemy that occupied our land and the battle continues on the path to freedom for our people. We do not see a future for this battle except victory&rdquo Aruri said.
Below are Aruri’s remaining remarks to Al Jazeera channel:
&ldquoThis battle is just a round and the enemy has not stopped targeting our people. The battle will continue for the freedom of our people and our right to live freely.
This is an advanced battle on the path to the freedom of our people and the justice of our demands.
The West accuses us of committing crimes against humanity but it ignores that the war against us is based on targeting civilians.
Our region is known for pluralism and we have coexisted throughout history with all religions.
Our region has not been known for religious wars but it is the West that has given birth to all extremist ideologies.
The al-Qassam attack was an organized and disciplined operation and the instructions were to attack the Israeli military division of Gaza.
We already knew that there were [Israeli] arrangements after the holidays to launch an attack on us.
We preempted an Israeli attack by surprising the commandership of the Israeli military division in the south and it collapsed quickly.
The occupation with its criminal violence [in Gaza] wants to cover up its army’s failure to defend its headquarters.
We have conveyed our position and our narrative of what had happened to all the concerned parties.
When the Israeli Gaza division collapsed civilians from Gaza entered and clashed with the settlers causing civilians to fall.
The command’s instructions to the resistance fighters were clear not to kill children and women.
The Israeli army did not even intervene to protect civilians in the settlements. Al-Qassam Brigades did not plan to harm or kill civilians.
Hamas cannot harm civilians or prisoners and we act in accordance with the international laws of war.
There are ordinary individuals from Gaza who were able to enter settlements and capture civilians but this is neither our plan nor our principles.
1200 Qassam members were all those who entered the settlements and took control of the Gaza division of the Israeli army in a short time.
The occupation knows that any invasion of Gaza will turn the battle into a disaster for its army.
Our defensive plan is much stronger than the offensive plan and this is what the occupation understands.
Before the attack started the defensive plan was ready and it is much stronger than the offensive plan. For every action the enemy takes there is a plan we have.
The occupation did not target the military structure of the resistance but rather it targets civilian areas and residential neighborhoods [in Gaza].
We are fighting in order for the world to recognize our people’s right to live like other peoples. We count on our Ummah’s peoples to support us.”
