Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Sunday that the Palestinian Resistance Movement’s utmost priority is “halting and ending the aggression” on the Gaza Strip.
In a statement on Sunday, Abu Zuhri reiterated its position of not settling for “understandings that do not alleviate the suffering of our people, guarantee their return to their homes, and ensure full reconstruction of all life facilities.”
He also highlighted the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza, slamming the West and particularly the United States for continuing to support Israel in its genocidal war in the Strip.
“This brutal campaign would not have persisted without Western—particularly American—support in the form of financial and military aid, as well as political and media backing,” the Hamas leader said, adding that “such support justifies and covers up the occupation’s crimes and obstructs any role by the UN Security Council to stop this genocide”.
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Abu Zuhri stressed that Israel is deluding itself “if it thinks that by committing more massacres, genocides, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement, it can achieve its aggressive goals in Gaza.”
“This land has always been and will remain Palestinian, resistant to occupation and its schemes. Its people are the rightful owners of the land, and the occupation will vanish, by the will and power of Allah,” he noted.
Moreover, Abu Zuhri slammed the official Arab and Islamic stand, which he said was “characterized by weakness or betrayal.”
“We call on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League to translate the decisions of the joint Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh into practical measures,” the top Hamas official said.
Abu Zuhri added that the Arab and Islamic nations “should rise to the level of the sacrifices and steadfastness of our people and the justice of their cause.”
The senior Hamas official described the devastating humanitarian situation in northern Gaza as dramatically worsening over the last fifty days “due to the horrific practices of the zionist-Nazi occupation.”
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Abu Zuhri said that Israel is practicing genocide in all its forms including “daily massacres claiming dozens of lives, the demolition of homes over their residents, targeting of hospitals, disruption of all medical and civil defense services, and systematic starvation, forced displacement, and ethnic cleansing.”
He added that these practices are sadly not limited to northern Gaza but across the Strip.
“The monstrosity of the zionist crime in northern Gaza does not diminish the scale of ongoing crimes by the occupation across the rest of the Strip—murder, starvation, and the prevention of entry of medical supplies, tents, and clothing amid extremely cold weather conditions,” Abu Zuhri stressed.
The senior Hamas official revealed that the resistance movement is exerting all efforts with all “friendly” countries and international organizations “to push for urgent relief for our people, mitigate their suffering as winter sets in.”
‘Systematic War Crimes’
Abu Zuhri slammed the Israeli occupation for targeting medical institutions labeling these attacks as “systematic war crimes aimed at destroying all aspects of human life and displacing our people.”
He denounced the ongoing attack against Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia “through direct bombing of its facilities and shooting at medical teams, patients, and the injured”.
“This includes the deliberate shooting and injuring of the hospital’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, in a criminal attempt to assassinate him and terrorize all hospital staff to prevent them from fulfilling their humanitarian duties,” Abu Zuhri said while calling on the United Nations to exert all efforts to pressure Israel to stop targeting hospitals across the Strip.
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On the unfolding Israeli military aggression in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem and the violence inflicted by illegal Jewish settlers on Palestinians, Abu Zuhri said they come as “a blatant violation of all international resolutions and charters that criminalize settlement activity.”
“We affirm that these settlement projects and zionist crimes will not succeed in altering the realities of history and the present, no matter how oppressive and criminal the occupation may be,” he stressed while vowing that Jerusalem will remain “Arab, Islamic, and the eternal capital of Palestine.”
US Veto, ICC Ruling
Additionally, Abu Zuhri strongly condemned the US veto at the UN Security Council to block a proposed resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, which he said proves the US’s complicity in the ongoing Israeli genocide.
“We call on the Biden administration, in its remaining days, to atone for its misdeeds and pressure the occupation to immediately halt its aggression against our people,” he said.
The Hamas leader added: “Likewise, we call on the incoming administration to review the hostile policies of the Biden administration and rectify its catastrophic errors.”
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Abu Zuhri concluded by commending the International Criminal Court (ICC) for issuing arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“It restores faith in the values of justice and the protection of humanity, contributes to isolating the Zionist entity internationally, and reaffirms its nature as a criminal entity led by internationally wanted war criminals,” he stressed.
According to Abu Zuhri the ICC decision also “criminalizes all parties that support and supply” Israel with weapons.
“We believe the real test in the coming phase lies in the efforts to arrest these murderous war criminals and international cooperation with the ICC to achieve this,” he concluded.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
