Hawzah News Agency - (Occupied Palestine) - A high-ranking Hamas official stresses the Palestinian nation’s resolve to liberate their homeland from the clutches of Israel, saying the resistance movement should be given a free hand to confront the US-Israeli schemes to consolidate the regime’s occupation of Palestine.
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau, made the remarks in an interview with the Doha-based Al Jazeera broadcaster on Wednesday, as Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are preparing to mark the 72nd anniversary of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe) as well as the International Quds Day.
He said that Hamas supports any firm and real Palestinian action to counter Tel Aviv’s plans, emphasizing that the Palestinian nation cannot abandon its homeland and ideals.
Haniyeh emphasized the need for the resistance movements to have a free hand to stand against the Zionist regime’s US-backed expansionism.
He was apparently referring to the existing differences between Gaza-based factions and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah over forming a unity government as well as ways to deal with the Israeli occupation.
Elsewhere, Haniyeh said Egypt has begun mediating indirect talks for a prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel. He cited the release of all Palestinian captives as the main condition for any deal related to their freedom.
“Hamas will not be quiet about prisoners in Israeli prisons, some of whom have been held there for over 40 years already,” he added.
The Nakba Day is marked annually on May 15. It refers to the forcible expulsion of some 700,000 Palestinians from their lands and their scattering across refugee camps in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and neighboring countries in 1948, when Israel declared existence.
Now, 72 years into the occupation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new coalition administration is expected to impose Tel Aviv’s “sovereignty” over Israeli settlements and the strategic Jordan Valley in the West Bank.
US President Donald Trump’s self-proclaimed “deal of the century,” which was unveiled in January, effectively granted Israel a green light for the annexation in flagrant violation of international law.
Besides preparations for Nakba Day, the Palestinians, along with other Muslim nations and supporters of the Palestinian cause, are gearing up to mark the International Quds Day to reiterate their call for the liberation of their homeland.
The Quds Day, which is commemorated worldwide on the last Friday of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, is a legacy of the late founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini.