Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movements confirmed Monday that the choice of resistance is strategic and irreversible, and it will continue through high and advanced coordination between the two movements and all Palestinian factions.

The two movements warned the Israeli occupation against any treachery toward the Palestinian people and their valiant resistance, affirming that the response will be firm, decisive, and unified.

In a joint statement following a high-level leadership meeting in Gaza, Hamas and the PIJ underlined that the steadfast Palestinian people will continue their resistance, armed with their belief in God, their rightful national cause, and their historical right to their land from the river to the sea.

The statement said the Palestinian people believe that comprehensive resistance of all forms, especially armed resistance, is the only way to liberate the land, describing other solutions and settlements as nothing but a mirage and an illusion.

Hamas and the PIJ saluted the Palestinian people and their martyrs and singled out the martyrs of Operation Unity of the Battlefields, Al-Quds Brigades leaders Tayseer Al-Jaabari and Khaled Mansour, in addition to all the prisoners, spearheaded by the steadfast prisoner Khalil Awawdeh, who has been on hunger strike for more than 160 days.

The two Palestinian Resistance movements considered that the joint operations room is a national achievement that includes all Resistance factions in a unified framework for managing the confrontation with the Israeli occupation, adding that all the factions will work on strengthening the operations room's role and status until liberation.

The joint statement stressed that on the 53rd anniversary of the burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque, occupied Al-Quds is at the center of the confrontation and the ultimate destination of the Resistance fighters and revolutionaries, underlining that the sword (seif) of Al-Quds, in reference to Seif Al-Quds battle, will not be sheathed.

On August 21, 1969, a Zionist Australian extremist named Michael Dennis stormed #AlAqsa Mosque and deliberately set fire to its eastern side, which led to the destruction of its facades, ceiling, carpets, and furniture.#Palestine pic.twitter.com/Cq54DpnooY

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) August 22, 2022

Hamas and the PIJ called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank to stop arresting Resistance fighters and to release political prisoners, especially in the Areeha prison.

The movements also called on the PA to end its security cooperation with the Israeli occupation, forgo the catastrophic Oslo path, and launch a true comprehensive resistance.

The two movements affirmed their keenness on Palestinian national unity through the formation of a new Palestinian National Council that represents all Palestinians in Palestine and the diaspora, calling on their supporters to show more cohesion and rapprochement and go hand in hand in serving the people and the Resistance.

Hamas and the PIJ concluded their statement by thanking all the Arab and Islamic peoples and the free peoples of the world who stood with the Palestinian people against the recent Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip.

The statement comes three weeks after the Israeli occupation launched an aggression on the Gaza Strip, during which Al-Quds Brigades announced that Tayseer Al-Jaabari, a military commander in the northern Gaza Strip, had been martyred.

Consequently, Al-Quds Brigades launched an operation in response to the Israeli aggression by launching salvoes of rockets toward the occupied Palestinian territories.

Later, Al Mayadeen sources announced that a ceasefire agreement was reached in the Gaza Strip. The sources noted that the agreement was reached with the Israeli occupation agreeing to the PIJ's demands in full.

The Israeli aggression on Gaza left around 50 Palestinian martyrs and more than 360 wounded.

In early August, the head of Hamas' political bureau Ismail Haniyeh and the Secretary-General of the PIJ Ziad Al-Nakhalah discussed in a phone conversation "Israel's" failure in its strategy to break the will of the Palestinian people in their struggle, and the Resistance's unity in the face of the occupation. 

It is noteworthy that on August 7, PIJ Secretary-General Ziad Al-Nakhalah affirmed the unity of the Resistance factions.

"We, the brothers in Hamas, and the rest of the resistance factions are in a constant agreement, and the enemy will not be able to drive a wedge between us," Al-Nakhalah stressed.

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