Hamas hails Axis of Resistance for ‘wise, effective’ support in Gaza

A senior official with the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has hailed the Axis of Resistance for carrying out operations in a “wise and effective” manner in support of the Palestinian fighters battling the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. 

In an interview with the Lebanese al-Mayadeen television news network on Sunday, Osama Hamdan, Hamas’ representative in Lebanon and a member of the group’s politburo, said the Axis of Resistance is “functioning in harmony.”

“The pattern of the resistance’s operations in Lebanon and Iraq in supporting Gaza is carried out wisely, effectively, intelligently, and in an upward manner,” he said.

“The axis of Resistance confirms that it is functioning in harmony. This is important for this battle and future battles,” Hamdan added.

Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza on October 7, the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has carried out strikes on Israeli military positions close to the border between Lebanon and the occupied territories.

Resistance groups in Iraq have also struck several US occupation bases in the region in recent weeks. The attacks are part of a larger drive by resistance forces in the region to force the US and Israel to end the brutal aggression on Gaza.

Hamdan also reaffirmed that the movement will not enter into talks over a new prisoner swap deal with Israel until the regime’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip comes to an end.

“Our position is firm, which is that there is no talk of negotiations before stopping the aggression and a ceasefire,” he added.

Under a short-lived 7-day truce deal between Hamas and Israel which began on November 24, Hamas agreed to free almost 110 Israeli captives held in Gaza after it launched Operation Al-Aqsa Strom into the occupied territories. Nearly 127 captives remain in Gaza.

Israel also freed 240 Palestinians abducted and kept illegally in Israeli jails. After the truce collapsed on December 1, the fighting began in the besieged territories.

According to Hamdan Israel’s failure to release captives being held in Gaza and the deaths of three captives by friendly fire on Friday have generated waves of public anger across the occupied territories.

Hamdan once again expressed the resistance movements’ determination to continue standing up to the Israeli regime, saying “the resistance is capable of withstanding [Israeli offensive] for months.”

Hamdan said that “Israelis have failed to achieve any of their declared objectives.” “No one knows how [Hamas leader in Gaza] Yahya Sinwar manages the battle,” he added.

No prisoner exchange deal under fire: Senior Hamas official

Hamas reaffirms its position that there will be no more prisoner swap deals with Israel until the regime

Elsewhere, Hamdan said both Israel and its traditional ally, the US, “prefer that the war continues.”

He referred to the recent remarks by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who said on Friday that reoccupying Gaza does not “make sense” and is not “right” for Israel, adding that “the dispute between Israel and Washington is in form and not in content.”

While Americans would not like the Gaza conflict to expand across the region, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu wishes for such a scheme to come about, Hamdan said.

He also dismissed Netanyahu’s threats to assassinate Hamas leaders around the world, emphasizing that such a move will never go “unpunished.”

The relentless Israeli military campaign against Gaza has killed over 19,000 people, most of them women and children. More than 51,000 individuals have been wounded as well.

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