Resistance united front at times of war: Hamas official

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The Israeli occupation failed to realize the goals it had been set to achieve through its assassination of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials during its aggression on Gaza, Hamas senior official Osama Hamdan told Al Mayadeen on Monday.

Talking on the 75th anniversary of the Nakba [Catastrophe] that the Palestinian people underwent in 1948, Hamdan lauded the accomplishments made by the Palestinian resistance during Operation Avenging the Free, which was waged in response to Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, which saw the Israeli occupation uprooting the Palestinian people from their land and claiming it to be theirs. This event saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians kicked out of their homes and rendered refugees.

"Today, the situation is different from how it was during the Nakba," he said, stressing that the people of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 were still Palestinians and Arabs.

The Israeli occupation wanted to break the deterrence equation established by the Resistance and divide it after it was united, he explained. The occupation sought to force Gaza back into only being able to defend itself instead of being part of the liberation project.

Hamdan stressed that the goal of establishing the Joint Operations Room for the factions is to "develop the work of the resistance at all levels and among all its factions," underlining to the enemy that it cannot "exclude any Palestinian faction in any future confrontation."

"If the occupation feared a confrontation with Hezbollah and is anticipating a confrontation with Hamas, today it fears a confrontation with the Islamic Jihad," the Hamas top official said, referring to the occupation's apparent failure when it comes to changing the balance of power.

The generation facing the Israeli occupation today is the same "generation that grew up in the shadows of the settlements," he said, underlining that the generation in question was coming out today "to resist in unity" the Israeli occupation.

He went on to talk about the state of the confrontation in the West Bank, noting that the occupation was seeking to undermine the Resistance there, adding that the arrests and confrontations taking place there were "part of the plans drawn up at the Aqaba Summit and then in Sharm Al-Sheikh." He said this path was "doomed to failure."

The Palestinian Resistance is ready to confront the occupation on all the battlefronts, Hamdan said. "The Palestinians are not alone on the battlefront, and they are part of the Axis of Resistance in the region, which is only getting stronger."

Hamdan underlined that the resistance was not "only a self-defense project, but also a liberation project."

The resistance forces manage any battle as an "integrated front," explaining that this "integrated front plays roles related to the nature of the confrontation that differs from one arena to another and that what appears in the media about the components of the Axis of Resistance is an understatement."

Hamdan concluded by underlining that the relationship between Hamas and Syria has "stabilized and returned to its normal course. It is positive within the framework of the confrontation against the occupation and the Liberation of Palestine."

The Israeli occupation launched a five-day aggression against the Gaza Strip last week, targeting residential houses in the north, center, and south of the Strip.

In retaliation, Al-Quds Brigades and the Palestinian Resistance factions launched Operation Avenging the Free, in which it fired advanced rockets and missiles that bypassed the Iron Dome and targeted several Israeli settlements, occupied cities, and occupation sites.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the number of Palestinians killed in the aggression rose to 33 martyrs, including six children and three women, and 147 people were wounded.

The Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian Resistance Factions in Gaza said on Saturday that Operation Avenging the Free was a new chapter of glory that the Resistance fought as a unified front.

In a statement, the Operations Room said although Operation Avenging the Free has ended, the banners will not and shall not be lowered, and the will to fight will not and shall not ever dwindle.