Hamas official: Resistance movements won’t accept continuation of Israeli siege on Gaza

A member of the political bureau of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has warned that resistance movements will not remain silent for long on the siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip.

Husam Badran told Anadolu news agency on Wednesday that the resistance movements "will not accept the continuation of the siege on Gaza."

He stressed that the upcoming days will prove that the resistance groups “will not remain silent for long” on the present situation.

Badran also noted that “the resistance leadership sent clear messages that al-Quds Sword is still legitimized,” referring to the operation launched by the Palestinian resistance movements against the Israeli regime’s latest war on the coastal sliver in May.

Back on May 10, the Israeli military launched a brutal bombing campaign against Gaza, following Palestinian retaliation for violent Israeli raids on worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque and the regime’s plans to force a number of Palestinian families out of their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East al-Quds.

About 260 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli bombardment, including dozens of women and children.

In response, Palestinian resistance movements, chief among them Hamas, launched Operation al-Quds Sword and fired more than 4,000 rockets and missiles into the occupied territories, killing 12 Israelis.

Apparently caught off guard by the unprecedented barrage of rockets from Gaza, Israel announced a unilateral ceasefire on May 21, which Palestinian resistance movements accepted with Egyptian mediation.

Badran also noted that Hamas is engaged in contacts with Egypt and a number of mediators to ease the siege on the Gaza Strip.

Haniyeh: Hamas not fighting ‘a proxy war,’ merely battling on Palestinian land

The Hamas Political Bureau chief says the resistance movement is merely fighting on Palestinian land against Israel.

He also stated that Hamas rejects any requirements set by Tel Aviv in order to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or reach a prisoner exchange deal, indicating that these conditions are aimed to “shuffle the cards.”

Israel bans medical equipment from entering Gaza

The health ministry in Gaza said on Wednesday that the Israeli regime continues to block the entry of medical equipment to the Gaza Strip.

"At a time when the world is on alert to confront the new variant of the coronavirus, the [Israeli] occupation is committing this full-fledged crime of hindering the entry of a number of diagnostic and medical devices that help enhance the readiness of the health system in the Gaza Strip.”

The ministry urged international health and humanitarian organizations to exert pressure on the Israeli regime to allow the entry of the medical equipment, which, it said, has been held by Tel Aviv for months, to the enclave.

Gaza, home to some two million Palestinians, has been under Israeli siege since June 2007.  The tight blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

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