Israel’s recent assassinations of six Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commanders will not have an impact on the resistance movement’s ongoing struggle for national liberation, a spokesperson for PIJ’s military wing, Al-Quds Brigades, said in a televised speech yesterday.
The targeted killings by the Israeli military claimed the lives of 33 Palestinians, including six children, some of whom were children of the commanders, and injured 147 during the five-day aerial bombardment, some of the worst violence witnessed by Gaza since the ten-day war in May 2021. The fighting temporarily ended in a shaky truce, as part of an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.
Spokesman Abu Hamza said, “The operation’s five days on saw rage pouring over the heads of these Zionist scoundrels,” adding that “the enemy’s army is defeated and its government is crises-stricken, and that criminal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to head toward an illusioned victory by assassinating the valiant resistance commanders.”
“Through their blood, they made a bridge that allowed us to cross into liberation and salvation from our and humanity’s enemy,” he said. “Everything we did on the battlefront did not suffice. We still owe them, and we pledge to always be indebted for their blood.”
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In retaliation for Israel’s aggression, the Al-Quds Brigades and the Palestinian resistance factions launched Operation Avenging the Free, involving the launching of advanced rockets and missiles that bypassed Israel’s Iron Dome defence system, targeting several illegal Israeli settlements and occupied cities and also an alleged military site.
The military spokesman of the Al-Quds Brigades (PIJ), Abu Hamza, thanked the Axis of Resistance: Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen and Syria, for supporting them in every step of ‘The Battle of the Revenge of the Free’.
(AI translated) pic.twitter.com/w98kJ5pjfW
— Iran Observer (@Iranobserver01) May 14, 2023
In his address Abu Hamza also expressed gratitude to the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance for its continued support of the Palestinian national liberation movement. “At the helm of which is the Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon with the proud Hezbollah, and valiant Yemen, as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Revolution’s Guards, and the Quds Force who were with us step by step in Operation Avenging the Free,” he said.
Separately, the Secretary-General of the PIJ, Ziad Al-Nakhalah yesterday proclaimed the movement’s victory over the occupation state in a video address. “What they perpetrated deserved this and more, so all their cities were targets for Al-Quds Brigades and the Palestinian Resistance,” he stressed.
“We will end this battle with our weapons drawn and our fighters alert on the battlefield, prepared to face any aggression.” Al-Nakhalah went on to thank “everyone who stood by us, especially Iran, Hezbollah, and our brothers in Egypt and Qatar.”
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