Hamas to the world: Gaza has decided to break its siege

Deputy Head of Hamas’s Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh addressed the world on Monday, saying: “Gaza has decided to break its siege with blood, steadfastness and resistance.”

Israel has been imposing a strict siege of Gaza for about eight years, and yet the international community and most Arab countries have done nothing to challenge this illegal blockade.

Speaking on Al-Aqsa television, Haniyeh stressed that the Palestinians in Gaza had decided not to retreat from their position and reaffirmed the demands of the Palestinian fighters: “Stopping the Israeli aggression, lifting the siege with all of its consequences, releasing all prisoners freed in the 2011 exchange and guaranteeing that there will be no repetition of Israeli aggression.”

Haniyeh pointed out that: “These are consistent and just humanitarian demands, in keeping with international law and the previous agreements.” He called for all free nations to support the demands of the people in the Gaza Strip until the end of the bloodbath in Gaza.

Criticising Israel’s massacres in Gaza, he said: “The Israeli massacres against civilians in Gaza are proof of its inability to face the Palestinian fighters.”

Regarding the resistance, he said: “Resistance and national unity will achieve the Palestinian demands.” He added that popular support for the Palestinian resistance gives it more strength to stick to its demands, “which are the people’s demands”.