Al-Aqsa Storm ‘unprecedented achievement’ for resistance: Islamic Jihad official

By Ali Ghorban Bagheri

The latest confrontation between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli regime following the successful 'Al-Aqsa Storm' operation is an “unprecedented achievement” for the Palestinian nation of resistance, says a senior member of the Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad.

In an interview with the Press TV website late on Saturday, Ihsan Ataya, a member of the political bureau of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad resistance movement, hailed the Palestinian resistance’s surprise operation.

Hamas resistance movement launched an unprecedented aerial, sea, and ground operation dubbed 'Al-Aqsa Storm' (also known as Al-Aqsa Flood) in the wee hours of Saturday morning, which included at least 5,000 rockets toward the occupied territories.

The operation was in response to the Israeli desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque and relentless crimes against Palestinians.

The death toll of Israelis has jumped to more than 300 with thousands of others injured. Images of Israeli soldiers and settlers running for cover following the Palestinian operation have been viral.

Ataya described it as an “unprecedented achievement” for the Palestinian resistance movement and emphasized that this latest battle has exposed the weakness of the Israeli apartheid regime and the growing strength of the Palestinian resistance forces in moving toward their goals.

“Today's unique and innovative operation is the result of the Israeli regime's trampling of the Palestinian sanctuaries and shedding the blood of the Palestinian people in the occupied West Bank,” he stated.

According to reports, hundreds of Israeli soldiers and settlers, including senior military commanders, have been held as prisoners by the resistance forces.

‘Al-Aqsa Storm’ has changed equations, shattered Israel’s invincibility myth

According to Palestinian observers, the ‘Al-Aqsa Storm’ operation has changed the equation in favor of the resistance axis and shattered the myth of the Israeli regime’s invincibility.

Hamas resistance movement said the number of Israelis held in the ongoing operation against the regime is far more than "dozens" that was claimed by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Today, you talked about dozens of prisoners and we reassure you, Netanyahu, that your prisoners are many times more than this number, and you must keep track of your soldiers well," Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for the Gaza Strip-based movement's military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, said on Sunday.

The Islamic Jihad official told the Press TV website that after Saturday’s operation, which continues, the release of Palestinian prisoners from the Israeli jails “will not be far away.”

 Ataya said the message of the Al-Aqsa Storm (also known as Al-Aqsa Flood) is clear for Zionists, which is that the settlements are “not a safe place for them and they should leave these areas."

On reports about the Israeli regime closing the airports, he remarked that the move was aimed at preventing the mass migration of settlers to the countries from which they have obtained passports.

“The scale in this battle is tilted in our favor and not the enemy's,” he noted, adding that the operation shows the unity in the Palestinian resistance camp against the Israeli enemy.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk