Top Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, held a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon on Wednesday, declaring the Palestinian movement’s position on several issues.
Hamdan criticized US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken who had just concluded a trip to several Middle Eastern countries, including Israel.
“Blinken comes to sell illusions to all the countries he meets with, looking with one eye, adopting the narrative of the (Israeli) occupation, and supporting its agenda in liquidating the Palestinian cause and exterminating its people,” Hamdan said.
The Hamas official welcomed the latest action taken by the United Nations to “end the suffering of the Palestinian civilians.”
“We await urgent action from Ms. Sigrid Kaag, who started her mission last Monday as appointed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres .. to end the suffering of Palestinian civilians in all areas of the Gaza Strip, and to overcome the pressures and dictates of the occupation.”
Below are selected excerpts from Hamdan’s comments at the press conference:
US-Funded Genocide
“We stand with all pride and honor in the face of the legendary steadfastness shown by our people in the Gaza Strip, enduring the pain, hunger, deprivation, and the daily horrific crimes and massacres committed against them.
“We send a message of blessing and pride to the men of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Saraya Al-Quds, and all the heroes of the Palestinian Resistance, who continue to humiliate the officers and soldiers of the occupation army and disgrace their image, making their leaders pay for occupying our land and for their crimes against our people, land, and sanctities.
“The occupation continues its Nazi aggression and genocide for the 96th day, with brutality, criminality, and sadism against over two million Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip, using all types of internationally banned weapons and bombs, fully supplied by the United States of America.
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“The Nazi occupation’s crimes are not limited to the Gaza Strip, but extend throughout the West Bank and occupied Al-Quds, through the siege of cities and camps, cold-blooded assassination crimes, arrests, and systematic destruction of homes and infrastructure.
“Since the beginning of the Battle of the Al-Aqsa Flood, more than 353 martyrs have ascended in the occupied West Bank. The world witnessed how an Israeli military vehicle—deliberately and vengefully—ran over one of the martyrs in Tulkarem after he was shot by Nazi occupation soldiers. In Jenin, a Zionist drone targeted a group of young men, martyring 7 of them, including 4 brothers.
“This Nazi occupation has committed every imaginable crime, in blatant violation of all laws, norms, and international humanitarian law; from mass killing, forced displacement, arresting innocent civilians, stripping and torturing them, and photographing them, to the systematic targeting of children, kidnapping, and shooting civilians after removing them from shelters, and destroying all aspects of human life in the Gaza Strip, including hospitals, UNRWA shelters, schools, universities, mosques, churches, service centers, and even desecrating graves and stealing organs of the martyrs.
Sigrid Kaag’s Mission
“The people of Gaza face the danger of death every day, with increasing numbers of displaced people and a lack of adequate shelters, along with scarce aid reaching all areas of the Strip.
“The catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip warns of a significant increase in the number of martyrs, wounded, sick, and displaced. Those who don’t die from bombing, burning, and sniping with Zionist-American weapons die from hunger, thirst, and disease.
“We await urgent action from Ms. Sigrid Kaag, who started her mission last Monday as appointed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, as the Senior Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs and Reconstruction in Gaza, to end the suffering of Palestinian civilians in all areas of the Gaza Strip, and to overcome the pressures and dictates of the occupation.
.@SecBlinken spoke with @UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza @SigridKaag on January 8. They discussed shared commitment to alleviate suffering in Gaza, urgently expand entry of aid and commercial goods, and enhance humanitarian funding. pic.twitter.com/5lQrrQNBRb
— U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs (@USPalAffairs) January 10, 2024
“What is urgently needed is the sufficient flow of aid to all areas of the Gaza Strip, especially the northern areas that are facing actual famine.
“(The flow of aid should also) ensure the entry of fuel to hospitals, bakeries, water pumping stations, and sewage treatment plants, and to operate the civil work facilities destroyed by the occupation. This is an urgent responsibility and a pressing priority for Mrs. Kaag, and all concerned countries, governments, and UN institutions, leading to a halt of this barbaric Nazi aggression against our people.
‘Third Phase’ Propaganda
“For more than 3 full months, this Nazi enemy has not achieved any of its aggressive goals. It is trying through the escalation of its brutal crimes against innocents and civilians, including children and women, to claim a false victory, but it has not achieved it, and will not, by the grace of Allah, then by the steadfastness of our people and the valor of our Resistance.
“The marketing of the Nazi occupation in partnership with the American administration of the so-called ‘transition to the third phase of the war’ is part of a false and black propaganda, exposed to our people and our Resistance, and a desperate attempt to pass it as an achievement at the expense of our people’s blood, amidst the continuation of all forms of massacres and crimes against our people.
“The Zionist enemy’s prisoners held by the Resistance will not return alive to their families, unless Netanyahu and his war chiefs comply with the conditions of the Resistance, the first of which is the complete and total cessation of their aggression against the Gaza Strip.
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Blinken ‘Selling Illusions’
“With each of his five tours to the region, Blinken comes to sell illusions to all the countries he meets with, looking with one eye, adopting the narrative of the occupation, and supporting its agenda in liquidating the Palestinian cause and exterminating its people.
“The American administration, through its officials, is still adopting the misleading narrative and false propaganda of the occupation, attempting to justify the genocide committed by the terrorist occupation army against civilians, claiming that the Palestinian Resistance is embedded among civilians. This is a transparent policy to absolve the occupation of the bloodshed of children, women, and elders in Gaza, whose numbers exceed 30,000, including martyrs and those missing under the rubble.
“Regarding Blinken’s statement that many countries in the region are ready to invest in Gaza’s future: we reiterate that the Palestinian people are the masters of their own destiny, responsible for self-determination according to their national vision, to achieve their major goals of freedom, liberation from occupation, and establishing their independent state with Al-Quds as its capital.
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“We affirm our people’s welcoming stance towards any Arab and Islamic effort supporting our cause, backing the Resistance, ending the aggression, removing the occupation and the brutal effects of its aggression on our people, land, and our Islamic and Christian holy sites.
“We again call on the American administration to stop its policies that hinder efforts to end the genocide waged by the occupation in Gaza, to immediately work on stopping this criminal aggression, and to cease manipulating international laws and systems for the benefit of the Nazi-Zionist entity.
Don’t Pressure the ICJ
“Regarding the United Nations General Assembly session yesterday, Tuesday, discussing the use of the veto by the United States in the Security Council on December 22, 2023, against the resolution to stop the Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip, we affirm that the American administration continues to practice all forms of support for this Zionist aggression to ensure its continuation and prolong its duration, serving the occupation and partnering in its criminality and aggression.
“The American administration bears political, legal, moral, and humanitarian responsibility for the suffering, pain, killing, and displacement of over two million Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip.
“The American administration’s failure to issue United Nations Security Council resolutions to stop the aggression, and defying the will and positions of 153 countries in the United Nations General Assembly demanding a halt to the aggression, makes this administration a pariah and a sponsor of Zionist terrorism.
“The positions of this administration and its support for the occupation and its crimes will increase its political, diplomatic, popular isolation and damage its alleged moral image, confirming its relationship and sponsorship of all forms of terrorism in the world.
“We welcome and appreciate the positions of all countries that supported the courageous and honorable historical stance of the Republic of South Africa in raising this lawsuit against the Nazi occupation.
“We call on the International Court of Justice not to succumb to the dictates and pressures of the American administration, which is complicit and responsible for the continuation of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
‘South Africa Determined to Stop Israel’s Gaza Genocide’ – Justice Minister
“The positions expressed by Secretary Blinken regarding the legal case in the International Court of Justice, stating that “this step distracts efforts to contain the escalation” and that the genocide lawsuit is “baseless,” are American attempts to obscure the truth about the crimes committed by the occupation in Gaza. These are attempts to impede the function of international justice mechanisms.
“In this context, we ask: Is the occupation’s killing of about 30,000 civilians, most of them children and women, baseless?! Is the policy of starvation, dehydration, and cutting off water sources to the residents of the Gaza Strip baseless?! Is the destruction of 70% of the Gaza Strip baseless?! Is the destruction of 30 hospitals and the killing of doctors and journalists baseless?! This is hypocrisy, lies, and a policy of double standards by the Biden administration, which is complicit in this genocide.
“Mercy, glory, and eternity to the martyrs of our people and our nation in all battlefields, both in the homeland and abroad. We wish a speedy recovery for the wounded and the sick, freedom for the prisoners and detainees, and victory and dignity for our people and our Resistance.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
