ANKARA, (PIC)
Head of Hamas’s political bureau Ismail Haneyya has warned against the Israeli occupation army’s plan to invade Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, stressing that such a step would lead to large-scale massacres in the area.
“It is very clear that the Israeli enemy has a decision to violate every point, every place and every city in Gaza, especially that it has been talking about Rafah for months,” Haneyya told Anadolu news agency during an interview with him on Saturday.
With regard to Washington’s position on Israel’s intent to invade Rafah, Haneyya described the US position in this regard as “deceptive.” “They (Americans) talk about their need to see plans to avoid harm to civilians [in Rafah], but this is nothing but deception.”
“All the civilians who were martyred in Gaza were killed by American weapons and missiles and with American political cover,” Haneyya highlighted.
“When Washington stands at the Security Council and uses its veto power against a ceasefire resolution — what does that mean? It means that the US provides full cover for the continued killings and carnage in Gaza, and when Washington took a veto decision yesterday against a step calling for recognizing Palestine as a full member state at the UN, this means that it adopts the Israeli position and is the one that stands against the Palestinian people’s rights,” the Hamas leader said.
“Therefore, we have not fallen into this trap — the trap of deception or what is called the exchange of roles between the Americans and the Israelis. We warn against invading Rafah because this would lead to massive carnage against our people,” he added.
Haneyya called on Egypt, Türkiye, Qatar, the European countries and other concerned parties to take action to prevent the Israeli occupation regime from invading Rafah, stop its aggression against the population and force it to withdraw its troops from Gaza.
However, he emphasized that “if the Israeli army decided to enter Rafah, then our Palestinian people will not raise the white flag and their resistance in Rafah is also ready to defend and protect itself and its people and confront the aggression.”
