Palestinian armed resistance remain unshaken after a year of Zionist Israeli aggression
Marking the first anniversary of Operation Al Aqsa Flood, the armed action launched by Palestinian groups against Zionist Israel, Abu Obaida, spokesperson of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Resistance Movement or Hamas, issued a statement on October 7.
“Al Aqsa Flood shook the Zionist enemy and changed the face of the region,” Obaida said in his televised statement. “We struck the enemy with a massive preemptive strike after its planning for a major strike against the resistance in Gaza with all its factions reached its final stages.”
On that day, Palestinian armed forces attacked the Israel Defense Forces’ Gaza Division, military outposts, and surrounding settlements seized from Palestinians.
According to Obaida, the decision to attack was made after the mosque in the sacred Al Aqsa was placed on the brink of demolition, and amid aggressive displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank, particularly around Jerusalem, unprecedented abuse of Palestinian prisoners, violation of all traditions, and ongoing attacks on Gaza.
“Palestinian groups firmly continue [the Al Aqsa operation] with the support of Arab countries that back the Palestinian resistance.” He said the operations carried out by the resistance groups and brigades in the Gaza strip have been draining Israel’s security and defense capabilities, inflicting economic losses, and forcing Israeli settlers into displacement.
This is despite the unequal battle against a “criminal enemy that does not hesitate to commit every crime,” he said. Brigades and armed groups are constantly developing their tactics, combat formations, and methods.
“We decided and chose to continue confronting the enemy in a long, painful, and costly war as long as the enemy’s aggression continues,” he said. Their resistance will not stop despite the assassinations of their leaders, including their ally Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah.
“When were assassinations the end of the road for liberation movements and resistance?” he asked. He vowed that Israel will regret these crimes.
He also said that “drones and missiles from Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq are flying in the occupied skies of Palestine and hitting important targets and areas of the enemy.”
As solidarity among citizens, especially Arab citizens in Palestine, grows, the Zionist state is being recognized as a brutal, murderous, and criminal entity, rejected by all countries and free citizens worldwide, he said.
“This entity depends only on the American-made and directed air force, and is only held together by the familiar American administrations’ ropes, which will be severed no matter how long it takes,” he said. “It also depends on European colonial ropes that are rejected even by their own people…”
Regarding the prisoners held by al-Qassam, Obaida said that they would have been released and returned to their families last year if not for the obstinacy of the Netanyahu government. He said that the conditions of the prisoners are worsening as they remain in Gaza and as Israeli attacks intensify.
“Over the course of a year, the enemy failed to achieve its goals in Gaza, so it tried to export its crisis by attacking Lebanon and the region in the hope of restoring the image of deterrence that was shattered in the Strip since October 7,” Hamas leader and Gaza government official Khaled Meshaal said.