Osama Hamdan visits the Gaza Strip

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Osama Hamdan, a member of the Hamas’ political bureau and the official responsible for its foreign affairs, has visited the Gaza Strip where he is due to spend several days.

Hamdan began his visit with a meeting with Gaza’s Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh. Today he met with the families of Palestinian prisoners and demonstrators outside the headquarters of the Red Cross in Gaza. In a speech to those present, he confirmed that his movement would work toward freeing Israeli prisons of Palestinian prisoners.

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Addressing the international community, Hamdan said, “We address you with esteem and dignity and say that our people are resisting the occupation which is both their right and duty. Our heroes inside the prisons confronted it and gave up their freedom. It is the duty of all those who continuously fill our ears with [talk of] human rights and the right to self-determination to work toward ending the suffering of our prisoners.”

Hamdan, who currently resides in Lebanon, was born in Gaza City in 1965. His parents were evicted from the village of Asqalan in 1948. In 1967 they were again displaced from the occupied territories. He completed his secondary education in Kuwait and his university studies on Jordan before becoming Hamas’ representative in Iran and then Lebanon.

MEMO Photographer: Mohammed Asad