#alqassam — Public Fediverse posts

⭕« Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Yahud, 7 octobre reviendra »…

 Chants des participants lors des funérailles du commandant de la brigade de #Khan-Younès dans les brigades #Al-Qassam, « le martyr #Mohammad_Al-Yazouri ».

 #Qudsn

⭕L'armée #Israélienne publie une vidéo du moment de l'assassinat du dirigeant des Brigades #Al-Qassam, #Farah-Hamed, alors qu'il passait sur la rue #Al-Rashid, au Sud-Ouest de la ville de #Gaza.

 #InfoSudLiban

⭕L'armée #Israélienne publie une vidéo du moment de l'assassinat du dirigeant des Brigades #Al-Qassam, #Farah-Hamed, alors qu'il passait sur la rue #Al-Rashid, au Sud-Ouest de la ville de #Gaza.

 #InfoSudLiban

⭕Les brigades #Al-Qassam diffusent des scènes de la participation #d'Omar_Ismaïl_Al-Chérif aux combats dans le nord de #Gaza durant la bataille de l'ouragan #Al-Aqsa.

⭕Les brigades #Al-Qassam diffusent des scènes de la participation #d'Omar_Ismaïl_Al-Chérif aux combats dans le nord de #Gaza durant la bataille de l'ouragan #Al-Aqsa.

Hamas Full Statement on Disarmament

‘Elegant Fighter’ Hamza Amer Featured in New Qassam Documentary Video

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, released new footage on Friday documenting the life and military career of Hamza Hisham Amer, widely known as the ‘Elegant Fighter’, as part of its ongoing documentary series “Moons of the Flood”, which commemorates commanders and fighters killed during Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

The video identifies Amer as a platoon commander in the Musab bin Umair Battalion of the Khan Yunis Brigade and chronicles his role before and during the Al-Aqsa Flood operation.

Amer became widely recognized in late January 2024 after appearing in a Qassam video that circulated extensively on social media.

The footage showed him wearing a long black coat and white sneakers while carrying a Yassin-105 anti-armor launcher and firing at an Israeli military vehicle during fighting in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.

The distinctive image earned him the nickname ‘The Elegant Fighter’, which has since become closely associated with his battlefield appearance.

Training, Combat and Leadership

The newly released footage documents multiple stages of Amer’s military career.

It shows him supervising the training of Qassam fighters, participating in live-fire exercises before the launch of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, and directing anti-tank missile teams during combat in Khan Yunis.

One sequence shows Amer with a bandaged head after being wounded during the fighting, while others depict fighters maneuvering through destroyed neighborhoods and engaging Israeli military vehicles with anti-armor weapons.

According to the Qassam Brigades, Amer was born in 1991 and was killed on March 1, 2024, after serving as a platoon commander within the Khan Yunis Brigade.

Final Testament

The Brigades also released Amer’s recorded final testament.

In the video, he urges his family to remain steadfast, uphold their commitments, and raise future generations according to the teachings of the Quran while maintaining close ties to their local mosques.

Hamza Amer was the son of Hisham Hosni Amer, a senior Qassam figure who was killed during the First Intifada in 1992 while carrying out an armed operation targeting the Khan Yunis police station, which was being used by Israeli occupation forces at the time.

The Qassam Brigades presented Hamza’s story as a continuation of his father’s path within the Palestinian resistance movement.

Ghufran al-Zamel Recounts Her Meeting with Mohammed al-Deif Days in the Days Leading Up To Tufan al-Aqsa

Translator’s note: The following essay recalls an interaction that the prisoner rights activist Ghufran al-Zamel had with Mohammed al-Deif several days prior to the launching of Tufan al-Aqsa. Al-Zamel is a Palestinian former prisoner and well-known figure within resistance circles; she is also the wife of the imprisoned Qassam Brigades commander Hassan Salameh. In 1996, Salameh was arrested in Hebron after being wounded by the occupation forces. Palestinian prisoner organizations note that he had previously spent approximately two years in Israeli prisons before his current imprisonment. In 1997, Salameh was sentenced to 48 life sentences, one of the longest sentences imposed on a Palestinian prisoner. In my 2025 article, “The Prisoners Faction of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas): A Case Study on Awad Sulami, Zaher Jabarin, and Hassan Salameh,”[1] I have detailed his arrayed resistance work and prison literature writings. Notably, Salameh was given the third-highest sentence among prisoners serving life terms, after Abdullah al-Barghouti and Ibrahim Hamid. Salameh was subjected to two solitary confinement terms that cumulatively totaled approximately 14 years. His isolation only ended following a hunger strike that he and his imprisoned comrades spearheaded in 2012. In 2010, he married Ghufran al-Zamel, herself a released prisoner.

—

Al-Zamel has become a prominent public advocate for Palestinian prisoners, frequently conveying Salameh’s letters, speaking to the media, and campaigning on behalf of prisoners held in solitary confinement. She is originally from Nablus in the northern West Bank and, prior to her arrest by the Palestinian Authority, worked for the Gaza-based newspaper, Filastin (فلسطين).[2] In 2009, the Palestinian Authority summoned al-Zamel for questioning several times because of her work at the newspaper. Zionist occupation forces arrested al-Zamel during a pre-dawn raid on her family’s home in al-’Ayn (Ein Beit al-Ma’) refugee camp near Nablus on 29 August 2009.[3] She was taken directly to Petah Tikva interrogation center and interrogated for two full months because of her journalistic work, all the while being denied her legal right to meet with her lawyer.[4] She was then held at Hasharon (Telmond) Prison and, during her imprisonment, she became the Hamas women’s movement representative inside the occupation’s prison system. She also met prominent Palestinian women prisoners, including Ahlam al-Tamimi, whom she credits with helping initiate her correspondence with Hassan Salameh. Apparently Salameh initially refused al-Zamel’s bid for marriage, not wanting her to tie her future to someone serving multiple life sentences; per al-Zamel’s recounting, it was al-Tamimi who persuaded him to reconsider. Al-Zamel was released on Monday, 7 June 2010, after completing her ten-month sentence. In 2018, she completed a master’s degree and subsequently began her doctoral studies, although travel restrictions have complicated her academic work. She is currently based in Gaza.

Muhammad Haniyeh, the author of this piece, is a Palestinian journalist from the Gaza Strip affiliated with the Shehab News Agency.

Al-Deif: Ghufran al-Zamel Tells Shehab About Her Meeting with the ‘Shadow Man’ Days Before the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’[5]

by Muhammad Haniyeh, translated from Arabic to English by Mujamma Haraket

It was a few days before the “Al-Aqsa Flood” that Ghufran al-Zamel received a call asking her to come to specific location in the Gaza Strip to meet someone who wanted to convene with her. She had only recently arrived in Gaza, the place that Hassan Salameh most ardently yearned for and regarded as a true treasure.

[Ghufran al-Zamel:] “I arrived, and they introduced me to Mohammed al-Deif, known as ‘al-Hajj al-Kabir’ [the Great Pilgrim]. I couldn’t control myself that day. I couldn’t hold back my tears, and I cried in front of him for half an hour.”

Deif had been Hassan Salameh’s comrade and the last person to bid him farewell before Salameh honored the path of the fallen martyr Yahya Ayash, trekking to the West Bank to spearhead the “Sacred Revenge Operations.”

“It’s the very same voice!”

Ghufran recounted to the Shehab News Agency the details of her meeting with the martyred commander Mohammed al-Deif, chief of staff of the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, about two weeks before the launch of the al-Aqsa Flood. “I couldn’t believe I was seeing him, nor did I even believe he was alive.” To dispel her doubts, the first thing she asked him was, “Speak.” She wanted to hear his voice. Indeed, it was the very same voice that we have all heard in those rare recordings that have occasionally been broadcast in the media.

“I responded to him, ‘Oh, it’s the same voice we have heard—so it’s not dubbed or sound effects.’” Al-Deif was surprised by Ghufran’s reaction. She then frankly responded to him, “Don’t be so surprised. You don’t know what Muhammad al-Deif means to us. We thought you were dead, and that Hamas had kept your name and your shadow alive to live on as a legend. We, too, live on through your voice and your long shadow.”

The first few minutes of the exchange passed as she closely watched his movements and listened to him speak. He tried to break the ice with her, joking about her husband and his companion on his path of resistance, Hassan Salameh. Ghufran recounted him [to Shehab] as “precisely the person ‘Israel’ would fear; you couldn’t find anyone in the world with such humility, humanity, honesty, kindness, and spontaneity—all of which were evident in his words and conversation.” Ghufran sighed and then said, “Such a person is impossible to replicate.”

An Iron Memory

Al-Deif’s memories with Hassan Salameh from the days of the First Intifada dominated the beginning of their meeting. He redolently recalled the West Bank, which he had visited at the time.

“He remembers the names of the villages, cities, and the streets of every city. I was stunned by the accuracy of his descriptions and his memory. This al-Deif, who is always so busy and has gone through so many horrors, remembers every detail of the places he has visited,” said Ghufran al-Zamel. She added, “He told me about Hassan, how they lived together, the operations they carried out together, and their memories of when the ‘Israeli’ army patrols chased them throughout Khan Yunis. He spoke about his unflagging love for Hassan and how deeply he misses him.”

Al-Deif continued to keep abreast of even the most minor details in Hassan Salameh’s life. Al-Deif told al-Zamel: “I was so happy when I learned about your engagement from inside prison. I follow his news and the details of his life, and I know how much this engagement changed Hassan. I also follow your travel and how far you’ve gotten with the house.”

Yes, this was the very same al-Deif, preoccupied with the Qassam Brigades and his cause, who, despite it all, was also attentive to the details of his comrades. He still remembered Hassan, “the persistent one,” and conveyed that all the years in prison could not have changed him. Al-Deif then detailed his various experiences with Hassan, including how Hassan insisted on that fateful day [in planning the “Sacred Revenge Operations”] that he wanted to undertake a martyrdom operation to avenge the blood of Yahya Ayash. Al-Deif did not grant him permission.

Al-Deif Confronts Soldiers Face-to-Face

As for his memories of being pursued in Khan Younis alongside Hassan, al-Deif recalled them as if they were unfolding right before him. He detailed how, on one occasion, the occupation jeeps tailed them, and they fled to a house. The soldiers then raided the house, but Hassan managed to escape through a back door, while Abu Khalid [al-Deif] remained inside. When the soldiers entered, they asked him about the protesters who had thrown stones at them. Al-Deif pointed them in a different direction, and they never realized it had been al-Deif who they had been looking for. Al-Deif then recounted another incident. One day, an ‘Israeli’ jeep had chased him and his companion Hassan, so they took a car that was parked on the road and escaped in it, before later returning it to its rightful owner.

Tracing the Finest Details

Hassan was the focus of the conversation, and, smiling as he did so, al-Deif recounted memories that took him back to the moments he was narrating, as if they had transpired only yesterday. Al-Deif raised his eyebrows as he described how he received the news of Hassan’s engagement from inside prison. “He’s crazy, he’ll do anything,” al-Deif said with a beam. Ghufran conveyed that he was surprised that Hassan had made such a decision despite his life sentence, noting that al-Deif had added, “That day I said, ‘Ghufran came into Hassan’s life at just the right time, as God had prepared you for one another.’”

She continued, observing how “Al-Deif followed all of Hassan’s news from inside prison. Every letter Hassan wrote reached him, as did everything Hassan published in the media. He knew Hassan wouldn’t be satisfied with any of our answers to the questions he asked about, including the various deals and the cause of liberation. Indeed, he was ‘the persistent one,’ always trying to learn every detail of what was going on.”

“I was happy when I learned about your decision to buy land and build a house on it in Gaza,” al-Deif remarked to Ghufran. He then told her about one of the most painful moments of his life, when he read Hassan’s book about his isolation and solitary confinement. “I was pained by every word Hassan wrote and lived,” al-Deif replied.

He continued, speaking of how much he missed Hassan and of his hope of seeing him free. As Ghufran broke down in tears, al-Deif tried to comfort her, saying “I’m sure he would have called you a thousand times by now, and in a little while he’d be calling everyone in Gaza looking for you.” He said this to Ghufran after they had spent hours together, making the joke even though he knew Hassan had no access to a phone.[6]

Ghufran asked al-Deif for a photograph with Hassan, and he obliged out of affection for him. “I asked al-Deif for a photograph with him, and he obliged out of love for Hassan. Although I was not able to keep the photograph, I had the honor that day of meeting al-Deif and taking a photograph in which he wished Hassan could have been with us,” she reflected.

The Mission that Shocked al-Deif

She continued, “At the end of the meeting, I asked him, ‘When will the time come for people to see Muhammad al-Deif? When will he reveal his face?’ The question seemed to take him by surprise. After a moment of reflection, he said, ‘On the day there is reason for it, everyone will know me.’ Then he asked, ‘How important is it for people to see my face?’, expressing his surprise that people held him in such extraordinary light. At that moment, I responded to al-Deif’s astonishment by saying, ‘On the Day of Liberation, and on the day you lead us in prayer at al-Aqsa, God willing, and the whole world will see you.’ Al-Deif smiled and fell silent.”

All of Gaza is Waiting for Him

Al-Deif entrusted Ghufran with a message for his companion in resistance: “Give him my regards and tell him that all of Gaza is waiting for him.” He then ended with one final request, pleading that she not tell Hassan about the meeting until a few days had passed. He knew she would not keep such a great secret from him, and he knew that his friend, “the persistent one,” would keep asking about her long absence and why she had not been using her phone.

[1] Mujamma Haraket “The Prisoners Faction of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas): A Case Study on Awad Sulami, Zaher Jabarin, and Hassan Salameh,” Substack, 25 November 2025; retrieved online (16 July 2026): https://mujammaharaket.substack.com/p/understanding-social-reproduction.

[2] “‘I Waited 16 Years for Him and Never Saw Him in My Life’: The Wife of al-Qassam Prisoner Hassan Salama Reveals the Details of Their Marriage,” Al Jazeera Mubasher, 4 March 2025; retrieved online (16 July 2026): https://shorturl.at/ZlyzR. “IOF Soldiers Arrest Seven Palestinians Including Young Woman,” Palestinian Information Center (PIC), 29 August 2009; retrieved online (16 July 2026): https://english.palinfo.com/o_post/IOF-soldiers-arrest-7-Palestinians-including-young-woman/. “Friends of Humanity Demands Israel to Release Ghoul and Zamil from Its Jails,” Palestinian Information Center (PIC), 7 September 2009; retrieved online (16 July 2026): https://english.palinfo.com/o_post/Friends-of-humanity-demands-Israel-to-release-Ghoul-and-Zamil-from-its-jails/.

[3] “The Story of the Fiancés Ghufran and the Prisoner Hassan: Two Decades of Waiting,” Al Jazeera Arabic, 27 August 2025; retrieved online (16 July 2026): https://shorturl.at/NOl2Y. “Ghufran Ghalyan Saad Zamel,” Not Numbers: Palestinian Women Political Prisoners, Palestinian Women’s Committee / Women of Palestine; retrieved online (16 July 2026): https://womenfpal.com/uploads/documents/2022/november/aseerat-en.pdf

[4] “Wedding on Hold: Palestine, Politics and Prison,” Al Jazeera World, 1 May 2019; retrieved online (16 July 2026): https://www.aljazeera.com/program/al-jazeera-world/2019/5/1/wedding-on-hold-palestine-politics-and-prison/.

[5] Originally published as: “When I Met Mohammed al-Deif: Ghufran Zamel Tells Shehab About Her Encounter with the ‘Shadow Man’ Days Before al-Aqsa Flood,” Shehab News Agency, 16 July 2026; retrieved online (16 July 2026): https://shorturl.at/LLZJ8.

[6] Translator’s note: The phone is here is the nexus of joke that is reintroduced in the conclusion, where both parties recognize that Hassan Salameh has no means of accessing said phone, but it figures as a lighthearted motif nevertheless. The phone figures as the centerpiece in the exchange between al-Deif and Ghufran Al-Zamel but the context does not neatly translate into English.

Mujamma Haraket
source: Substack

Hamas Had No Option But to Govern Gaza and Repeatedly Tried to Find Solutions

Hamas’ decision to dissolve its committee governing the Gaza Strip was not a trick or simple gesture; the movement has long sought to hand over control of the territory’s civil administration. While the Zionists have claimed that Hamas governing the territory has long been the key impediment to “peace”, nothing could be further from the truth.

Despite the Israeli-US refusal to implement the agreed-upon terms of the Gaza ceasefire, never entering into the second phase of the agreement and remaining in limbo instead, Hamas recently took a measure that aimed to show the international community that it was willing to take the initiative in good faith. Immediately, the Israelis and their defenders began to invent narratives arguing that Hamas had engaged in some kind of trick, while asserting that the Palestinian group needed to disarm for the second phase of the agreement to begin.

The United States and its so-called “Board of Peace” (BoP) have put little to no effort into the ceasefire, despite having been authorised to exist by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). When there have been any measures taken, they usually come in the form of guarding the Israelis from criticism, despite the fact that they have killed over 1,000 Palestinians since the ceasefire began and blocked many basic goods from crossing into the territory inhabited by the internally displaced.

As a measure to try and get the process jump-started once again, Hamas announced the dissolution of the temporary committee set up to govern the people after they had suffered an all-out genocide. The critics of this move claim that Hamas-affiliated individuals could be involved in the future technocratic body that the movement has just made way for, which is simply an excuse to prevent further progress.

Unfortunately, even if a technocratic Gaza governing body can be achieved, the Israelis are likely to point to its members as agents of Hamas. This could come in the form of pointing to these technocrats previously working for the civil administration in Gaza, which evidently has been run by Hamas. The same would be the case if you sought to dismantle the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s civil administration in the occupied West Bank; inevitably, the people most qualified to assume positions under a technocratic administration would likely have had some job role under the PA in the past and may even have Party affiliations to Fatah or the PFLP. This wouldn’t mean they are agents of those organisations, it just means that all the available jobs in their field require being employed with the PA.

Hamas did not simply seize control of the civil administration in Gaza as a power-hungry movement that was desperate for control. They were pressured into running in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative elections, which, to their own surprise, they won in a landslide. Immediately upon their election to power, the United States, their EU partners, and “Israel” sought to punish them for daring to engage in democracy.

The EU and US immediately placed sanctions upon the Gaza Strip, the Israelis imposed a blockade, and then the Bush Jr. administration covertly armed a coup plot that sought to violently overthrow Hamas. The coup plot was ultimately foiled by the Qassam Brigades (armed wing of Hamas) in 2007, which is when the Israelis tightened their blockade on Gaza.

Following this, the Palestinian civil war between Hamas and Fatah raged on. Despite countless attempts to mend ties, both Gaza and the West Bank were split from one another. This was a scenario brought about by US-Israel-EU interference, not the Palestinians alone.

After years of failed unity attempts, in 2014, there appeared to be a diplomatic breakthrough between Hamas and Fatah, which is when the Israelis found a convenient pretext to launch a massive assault on the Gaza Strip. Not only did the Zionist regime murder over 2,300 Palestinians, but their allies in Washington helped to ensure that the Palestinian Authority would back away from any unity agreement.

Again, in 2017, there was a unity agreement that was almost reached between Hamas and the PA. Hamas was on the verge of handing over control of the civil administration to the Palestinian Authority (PA). On November 1, Hamas dissolved its governing committee and handed over control of the Rafah border crossing to the PA, an event which was celebrated across the Gaza Strip. However, the US and Israel again intervened to pressure the PA to collapse the agreement.

Control over the civil administration in Gaza has never been the demonstrated or publicly stated goal of the Hamas movement. Time and time again, they have made strides towards relinquishing governance. The reason why the US, EU, and Israelis don’t allow it is for two reasons:

They don’t want the PA to govern both Gaza and the West Bank, because they fear this will give legitimacy to the idea of a Palestinian State.

Hamas and allied resistance movements refuse to disarm as a part of any such agreement.

The problem was never that Hamas was clinging to power; it was that the Israelis and their complicit Western partners sought to prevent the formation of a Palestinian State and to rob the people of Palestine of their ability to defend themselves.

Robert Inlakesh
Source: Al Mayadeen

Two Years after Deif’s Assassination: Resistance Honors Architect of Al-Aqsa Flood

The Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas commemorated on Monday the second anniversary of the assassination of Mohammed al-Deif, the longtime commander of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, describing him as one of the most influential figures in the history of the Palestinian resistance.

Although Deif was killed in a zionist airstrike on July 13, 2024, Hamas did not officially announce his death until January 30, 2025, stating at the time that the delay was related to security and military considerations.

In a statement marking the anniversary, Hamas described Deif as an “exemplary and unparalleled” leader who devoted his life to the Palestinian cause and played a defining role in developing the movement’s military capabilities over four decades.

The movement said his legacy continues to inspire Palestinian resistance fighters despite his death, describing his assassination as a loss that had strengthened rather than diminished the movement’s determination.

From Refugee Camp to Al-Qassam Commander

Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, widely known by his nom de guerre Mohammed Deif, was born in 1965 to a Palestinian refugee family in Khan Yunis after his family was displaced during the 1948 Nakba.

While studying science at the Islamic University of Gaza, he became active in student, religious and charitable work before joining Hamas during the First Intifada in 1989.

Occupation forces arrested him that same year, holding him for approximately 18 months without trial.

Following his release, Deif became increasingly involved in the military organization of the Al-Qassam Brigades. During the 1990s, he helped establish Hamas’ military infrastructure in the occupied West Bank before returning to Gaza.

In 2002, following the assassination of Salah Shehadeh, Deif assumed command of the Al-Qassam Brigades, a position he held for more than two decades.

Under his leadership, Hamas significantly expanded its military organization, developing command structures, weapons production and operational capabilities that became central to the movement’s strategy.

A Figure Shrouded in Secrecy

Throughout his years in command, Deif maintained an exceptionally low public profile.

Only a handful of images of him ever emerged publicly, and for many years he appeared only through audio messages or heavily obscured video recordings, earning him a reputation as one of the most elusive figures in the Palestinian resistance.

Zionist intelligence repeatedly identified him as one of its highest-priority targets.

Between 2001 and 2014, the occupation carried out multiple assassination attempts against him.

Several of those attacks left him seriously wounded, including injuries that reportedly affected his vision and mobility.

One of the most devastating attempts occurred during Israel’s 2014 military offensive on Gaza, when an airstrike killed his wife and two of his children. His extended family also suffered heavy losses during the occupation’s war on Gaza following October 2023.

Associated with Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Flood

Deif became closely associated with the defense of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

His public warnings during the Sheikh Jarrah crisis in 2021, when Palestinian families faced forced displacement from the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood, elevated his profile beyond Gaza and made him a symbol for many Palestinians participating in protests across historic Palestine.

His most widely known public appearance came on October 7, 2023, when an audio message announced the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

In that address, Deif stated that the operation was intended as a response to years of zionist occupation, attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque, settlement expansion and violations of Palestinian rights.

The speech became one of the defining moments of the conflict that followed.

Hamas Says His Legacy Endures

In Monday’s statement, Hamas credited Deif with transforming the Al-Qassam Brigades from a relatively small armed organization into a disciplined and organized military force.

The movement portrayed him as the principal architect of its military doctrine, saying his strategic planning shaped many of its operations over the past two decades.

Hamas also stated that Deif became “a nightmare” for the regime’s security establishment because of his ability to evade repeated assassination attempts while overseeing the continued development of the Brigades.

The statement concluded that his death would not mark the end of his influence, asserting that his legacy would continue to guide the resistance.

It described his blood and sacrifices as “fuel” for the ongoing struggle, while expressing confidence that future generations would continue what it characterized as the path he helped build.

source: Palestine Chronicle

“Operation Vanishing Illusion” (ʿAmaliyyat al-Wahm al-Mutabaddid) as a Prefiguration of “Tufan al-Aqsa”

Abstract

The intelligence and counterintelligence operations that facilitated the 25 June 2006 capture of Gilad Shalit marked one of the most significant successes achieved by the Palestinian “Joint Operations Room” to that point. The operation—precipitated by the 9 June 2006 murder of twelve-year-old Huda Ghalia, alongside her father and five siblings while the family was enjoying an excursion on Sudaniyya Beach near Beit Lahia in northern Gaza—famously resulted in the “Wafa al-Ahrar” (“Loyalty to the Free”) exchange, in which over 1,000 prisoners associated with Hamas, Fatah, PIJ, PFLP, and DFLP (amongst others) were freed, including charismatic leaders who went on to spearhead the resistance, such as Yahya al-Sinwar, Rawhi Mushtaha, Tawfiq Abu Naim, Husam Badran, Jihad Yaghmur, Ali al-Amudi, and Zi’ad ‘Awad, to name but a handful. Although much scholarly attention has been devoted to the five-year negotiation process and the resistance’s ability to clandestinely move Shalit, evading the occupation’s capture and detection, there has been a dearth of English-language analysis of the actual intelligence and counterintelligence preparations. Indeed, not only did the 2011 prisoner exchange inform the 7 October operation’s objective of conducting a comprehensive prisoner exchange, but so too did the military preparations and intelligence gathering, thereby justifying a close analysis based on the resistance’s witness accounts and archival texts.

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0. Introduction

On 25 June 2023, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades published an article by Palestinian political commentator Izzat Jamal; in retrospect, the short piece clearly anticipates the 7 October 2023 “Tufan al-Aqsa” operation and includes the following telling title: “After 17 years since [Gilad] Shalit’s capture, capture remains a live option.”[1] Jamal’s commentary is worth translating and reproducing in full:

At dawn on 25 June 2006, six months after Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, along with the Nasser Salah ad-Din Brigades and Jaysh al-Islam, carried out one of the most significant raids in the history of the conflict with the occupying entity. The groups undertaking the attack successfully crossed the separation wall and infiltrated our occupied territory east of the Gaza Strip through a pre-prepared tunnel. They stormed one of the fortified positions established by the enemy army to harass and monitor the residents of Gaza, known as the “Red Tower” position, where the fighters were able within a few minutes to destroy a Merkava tank and an armored personnel carrier and carry out an assault on the tower. They returned to the Gaza Strip with the captured soldier, Gilad Shalit, whom they had extracted from the heart of his armored vehicle. They left behind a number of dead and wounded enemy soldiers and officers, leaving the enemy stunned by the shock and surprise.

In the years that followed, Hamas and the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades managed a series of complex operations involving concealment, negotiation, and the conclusion of a major national agreement known as Wafa al-Ahrar (Loyalty of the Free). This deal represented a significant and unprecedented national victory for the Palestinian people, as it was the first time a prisoner exchange had been conducted from within the occupied territories. The resistance brought joy to all Palestinians, both inside and outside Palestine, by including them in the deal, and proved that the sincere will of truth is stronger than the arrogance of the occupying enemy.

The Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange deal underscored a crucial truth: the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, especially those serving long sentences, the sick, and those serving life terms, can only be achieved through the capture of Israeli soldiers and officers. It demonstrated that the occupying enemy understands only the language of force, and only through force will it retreat and release our Palestinian people from its prisons. For this reason, the Palestinian resistance has carried out a number of heroic operations targeting the capture of occupation soldiers. The most prominent of these operations were those conducted in the West Bank and Gaza, such as the settler-capture operation in Hebron in 2014 by Qassam Brigades members Amer Abu Aisha and Marwan al-Qawasmi; the capture of soldier Oron Shaul east of Gaza and officer Hadar Goldin east of Rafah during the ‘Israeli’ aggression on Gaza in the same year; and the subsequent capture of Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, along with numerous documented attempts that did not end with the Battle of Saif al-Quds in 2021.

The resistance, and the Qassam Brigades in particular, considers the capture of soldiers a crucial strategy, devoting significant attention to it and making it a cornerstone of their fighters’ combat doctrine. This has been evident in the few media appearances of prominent leaders of the Qassam Brigades’ military council, as well as in combat training exercises and military maneuvers conducted, whether in the “Mighty Pillar” exercises involving all factions combined, or during the training exercises of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

This clearly indicates that the option of capturing ‘Israeli’ soldiers and officers remains a viable and potent strategy, given the intransigence of successive occupation governments and their failure to manage this issue, which constitutes a persistent weakness for them, as evidenced by the years that have passed since their soldiers and officers were captured and held in the Gaza Strip. Refusing to comply with the Palestinian resistance’s conditions for releasing the prisoners of the Wafa al-Ahrar deal as a prerequisite for any negotiations, and demonstrating intransigence, will be the greatest incentive for launching new capture operations. These operations may differ in time and place, but their goal will undoubtedly be the liberation of prisoners from the prisons of the oppressive entity. At the same time, the resistance and the Qassam Brigades insist on not revealing the fate of the captured Zionist soldiers they hold except at a price. What strengthens the possibility of carrying out new capture operations is the tendency of the occupation entity and its fascist government to mistreat prisoners in prisons, reaching the point of executing a number of prisoners, such as the martyred leader Khader Adnan. This is in addition to the unprecedented restrictions imposed on female and male prisoners, which have included gains that prisoners had won over decades of struggle with the prison administration. The escalating aggression against Palestinian prisoners in the prisons of the occupying entity compels the Palestinian resistance leadership to stand up to its religious and national responsibility, striving diligently and tirelessly to break the will of the occupying enemy and force it to release the prisoners from the prisons, no matter the cost. The heroic prisoners who spent the prime of their lives behind bars; they deserve it, and no price can equal their freedom.[2] (emphases added)

Indeed, The Palestinian resistance’s “Dispelled Illusion” (Amaliyyat al-Wahm al-Mutabaddid) operation, which culminated in the capture of occupation soldier Gilad Shalit, remains one of its most important accomplishments. On the one hand, the consequent Wafa al-Ahrar, or “Loyalty of the Free,” prisoner exchange born from the Shalit exchanged freed 1,023 Palestinian prisoner and conceptually galvanized the 7 October 2023 operation, directly informing the latter’s modus operandi (and eventual Tufan al-Ahrar exchange). On the other, the Loyalty of the Free Agreement facilitated the return of charismatic figures from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam brigades who possessed huge symbolic political capital and intelligence prowess, such as Yahya al-Sinwar, Rawhi Mushtaha, Tawfiq Abu Naim, Husam Badran, Jihad Yaghmur, Ali al-Amudi, and Zi’ad ‘Awad, to name but a few. Important figures like Husam Badran, who had been a commander within the al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank and would later form the Hamas Office of National Relations (HONR) and had spent fourteen years in the occupation’s prisons (and was a cellmate and close friend of Sinwar), were released. Jihad Yaghmur, a Hamas operative who participated in the abduction of murder soldier Nahshon Waxman in 1994, was also released in Shalit deal. These returns were factors that not only decreased the external leadership’s influence over the Al-Qassam brigades.

There is, however, another, more subtle link between the Gilad Shalit operation and Tufan al-Aqsa—one that involves intelligence and counter-intelligence collection efforts. This proves to be immediately apparent once one considers the structural similarities between the two operations—not least of all the fact that both involved various resistance groups working together to execute an ambush capture operation. Indeed, as an interview with Khalid Abu Hilal, a resistance fighter from al-Ahrar—a resistance faction that was, at the time of the “Dispelled Illusion” operation, was close to Hamas—“Hamas wanted the Shalit operation to be a national undertaking, not purely Hamas. They had just formed a government; it was a political calculation”; these sentiments were echoed by Muhammed Abdel (Abu Abir) of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).[3] Relatedly, Tufan al-Aqsa involved myriad resistance factions working together under the aegis of the “Joint Operations Room,” including the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas), Saraya al-Quds (Palestinian Islamic Jihad), Omar al-Qasim Brigades/National Resistance Brigades (DFLP), Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades (PFLP), and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.[4]

Before homing in on the intelligence aspect, it is worth summarizing the facts of the capture. On 26 June 2006, resistance soldiers belonging to al-Qassam and the PRC—alongside two Jaysh al-Islam members[5]—helped capture the occupation soldier, Gilad Shalit, killing two soldiers in the process.[6] The resistance published a communique articulating that the operation was prompted by the Zionist occupation’s 9 June 2006 murder of twelve-year-old Huda Ghalia, alongside her father and five siblings while the family had been enjoying an excursion on the Sudaniyya beach near Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.[7] The resistance was able to hide Shalit, evading the occupation military’s detection for the full breadth of tortuous negotiations. Eventually, as aforementioned, a total of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released in the Shalit exchange, which transpired in two stages: 477 prisoners were freed on 18 October 2011 and 550 on 18 December 2011. Amongst those freed were 307 Hamas members, 399 Fatah members, 27 Palestinian Islamic Jihad members, 74 PFLP members, 26 DFLP members, and 194 affiliated with other organizations (or unaffiliated).[8]

Turning now to the intelligence collection: the preparations for Shalit’s capture were planned from 23 until 25 June 2006. What precisely this involved has, however, not received significant scholarly attention, though much has been written about the subsequent negotiations.[9] Nevertheless, this is a critical oversight: Hamas invested heavily in systematic intelligence work, initiating sustained forward surveillance patrols along the frontier its military apparatus processed and evaluated the collected information. This facilitated what was, by all accounts, a mightily impressive capture and motivated the Tufan al-Aqsa gambit. By better understanding this, we can also come to better appreciate the operational and conceptual strictures of Tufan al-Aqsa.

I. Intelligence.

In April 2006, Hamas installed the PRC’s founder, Jamal Abu Samhadana, as the interior ministry’s chief oversight official and as head of the Executive Force, a policing body formed in Gaza amid the struggle over control of the security services that followed the January 2006 legislative elections. At roughly the same time, PRC members state that Samhadana, together with members of the Qassam Brigades, began excavating a tunnel intended for a large-scale capture operation inside occupied Palestine; however, he was martyred in an airstrike by the occupation’s military on 8 June 2006, before the plan could be carried out. Less than three weeks later, Samhadana’s tunnel was put to use when operatives from al-Qassam, the PRC, and Dughmush’s splinter faction, Jaysh al-Islam, carried out the abduction of Shalit. Two occupation soldiers were killed in the operation, along with two Palestinian militants, one of whom belonged to Jaysh al-Islam, which declared its existence the following day. According to International Crisis Group’s 30 October 2010 interview with Khalid Abu Hilal in Gaza City, it was reported that, per the leader of al-Ahrar, a militant faction close to Hamas during this period, Jaysh al-Islam’s role was minimal, and “Hamas wanted the Shalit operation to be a national undertaking, not purely Hamas. They had just formed a government; it was a political calculation.”[10] This broad-spanning undertaking thus found Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, developing an intelligence program that extended to other resistance faction.

The Military Council of Qassam Brigades assigned the resistance group’s field command the task of identifying an occupation target for a soldier-capture operation intended to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in the occupation’s prisons. Following surveillance and reconnaissance across the operational axes and sectors of the Gaza Strip, planners settled on an operation against an occupation military position in the eastern Rafah sector near Karam Abu Salem. This area was described as lying deep within the occupation’s defensive perimeter and fully its control, as it was situated near several military posts and armored observation towers.[11] These crossings were understood as especially significant because they had repeatedly served as entry points for invading forces and for the infiltration of special units. At this stage, the immediate objective was defined as the capture of the occupation’s soldiers while minimizing the danger to the assault force.

The operation was conceived as serving purposes beyond the seizure of a prisoner. It was intended to demonstrate to al-Qassam’s fighters that direct confrontation with occupation’s soldiers was feasible only if preceded by sufficient planning. The scope of the operation consisted in cultivating an offensive program that could be reiterated in future resistance operations.[12] The resistance also sought to showcase the capabilities of Palestinian fighters despite their limited means and to reduce, insofar as possible, the advantages provided by the occupation’s military technology, including camera systems and thermal-imaging radars. Critically, the operation would also serve as training for the participating units who, the Qassam Brigade’s leadership thought, would spearhead larger future operations. It also prompted Mohammed al-Sinwar and Mohammed al-Deif founding Qassam’s “Shadow Unit,” which was responsible for securing the capture of soldier Gilad Shalit and holding him captive for five years; come the Tufan al-Aqsa operation, the “Shadow Unit” would again be responsible for overseeing the prisoners of war. [13]

After the plan was approved, orders were issued for its implementation in the field, together with instructions to provide all necessary personnel, materiel, and support requirements in other sectors and fronts, including missiles and rockets. A training site was then selected according to criteria intended to prevent detection by aerial surveillance, and the training program was completed under those conditions. The assault team was fixed at seven members of the resistance, a number described “as the absolute minimum.”[14] Although twelve fighters were said to be the ordinary minimum for an operation of this kind, the smaller number was adopted in order to reduce the likelihood of heavy casualties during what was understood to be a bold penetration deep into enemy-controlled territory.

The required weapons and equipment were assembled in detail. Each fighter received a rifle in good condition, six magazines, 200 rounds of ammunition, and three defensive grenades manufactured by al-Qassam. Every member of the assault team also carried two explosive breaching charges intended for fortress doors, likewise manufactured by al-Qassam, as well as a Yassin launcher with two missiles, a communications device linking each fighter to command through a method described as innovative and used for the first time, and a specially designed explosive charge for each shield. The fighters were additionally supplied with military uniforms of that occupation’s military; these included specially designed load-bearing vests for the chest and back, footwear intended not to leave footprints, and protective supports for the elbows, knees, and ankles in order to facilitate crawling through the tunnel and rapid movement during the attack.[15]

Each fighter also received a lightweight backpack for carrying his equipment through the tunnel so that all participants could reach the exit in a single movement without becoming exhausted before the attack began.[16] This arrangement was meant both to keep weapons and uniforms free of dust, thereby reducing the danger of weapon malfunction, and to prevent the enemy from deducing that the assault had been launched through a tunnel. Plastic restraints were also included, both for binding prisoners and for tying the hands of dead bodies in order to mislead the enemy.

The tunnel itself occupied a central place in the operational design. The plan called for its entrance to be sealed immediately after the assault team emerged, while still allowing for the possibility of reusing it if the enemy failed to discover it. The fighters were instructed to leave the exit rapidly after securing it from the outside in case nearby ambushes were present. At the same time, planners judged that the enemy would likely discover the tunnel by following the attackers’ trail and would then destroy it either from above or by demolishing the shaft itself. On that basis, they concluded that there was no value in mining the tunnel or stationing fighters near its entrance, a judgment derived from earlier responses recorded by the resistance.

Training was developed to cover all aspects of the objective and all plausible scenarios the assault team might encounter. The emphasis fell on both individual and collective core skills, including the destruction of an armored personnel carrier, a tank, and a fortified gate using specialized explosive devices tailored to each type of target. According to the account, the device used against the tank later caused the occupation’s military to believe that the vehicle had been struck by an advanced anti-tank round, since it created a hole approximately half a meter wide near the rear edge of the turret and penetrated into the interior. The resulting incendiary blast reportedly reached the engine at the front of the tank and nearly destroyed the command compartment, immediately killing the tank commander’s assistant, a corporal seated on the right side.

Missiles and mortars also formed part of the preparatory phase. They were assigned functions of support, preparatory fire, deception, and concealment of the operation’s true purpose from the occupation’s military field command. For two days before the attack, the occupation’s positions and outposts along the occupied strip, as well as nearby settlements, were shelled. This, according to the account, led the the occupation’s side to interpret the activity as another episode of routine rocket fire. An observation balloon positioned above the Karam Abu Salem crossing was reportedly withdrawn and redirected toward the Beit Hanoun/Erez area because rocket-launching activity had been detected there. This redeployment allegedly enabled the assault team to move with greater precision over exposed terrain during both the attack and the withdrawal.

As the zero hour approached, repeated visits were made to the tunnel, which was completed and reinforced internally. The occupation military’s positions selected as targets were monitored continuously for several days and nights, and they were filmed on video. The footage was then analyzed in order to study the behavior of the occupation’s soldiers at and around the positions throughout the day, as well as patrol patterns in the areas adjacent to the electronic fence. On the basis of these preparations, the final details of the operation were settled, and the zero hour was set for after the dawn prayer on 25 June 2006.[17]

The field battalion commanders then moved into the operational area to begin the final phase of execution. The assault team was isolated for two days under strict instructions and was then received at a concealed location serving as the final assembly point before movement toward the front line opposite the fence. Only at this stage, less than twenty-four hours before the attack, were the participants informed of the nature of the mission, the target to be attacked, and their individual responsibilities. A video covering the battle sector was shown to them, although the exact route to the target remained concealed. The presentation explained the attack points, the routes of approach for the different groups, and the withdrawal route. Each participant then described his own role in detail before the group and was allowed to ask questions. Films and diagrams were used to explain the structure of the targets and the routes leading to them. The route to the operational area, which the fighters were only made aware of after they entered the tunnel, itself remained secret.[18]

After these preparations, the participants were photographed in full equipment and their final wills were read both collectively and individually. Before dawn, they performed night prayers and the prayer of need. Early in the morning they were transported, together with all their equipment and under a series of security precautions, to the designated point where the tunnel entrance was located.[19] There, each participant examined his assigned portion of the tunnel and visually surveyed the surrounding area through a specially prepared aperture.

Before the team entered, the field command inspected the full length of the tunnel to ensure that lighting and ventilation were functioning properly. The fighters’ bags were then moved in reverse sequence from the far end of the tunnel in order to avoid congestion at the exit, since the passage was wide enough for only one man at a time. The resistance’s team guide descended first to the end of the tunnel carrying some equipment and supplies in preparation for sealing the entrance during the operation, and then returned after checking the tunnel’s reinforcements and the winch motor. The assault team spent the remainder of the day reading the Qur’an, engaging in dhikr, resting, and checking their equipment. The bags were then packed, numbered, and arranged at the tunnel entrance in reverse order so that each fighter would find his own bag at the appropriate point upon arrival. Once a fighter reached the exit, the guide would hand him his equipment, fit it onto him, assemble his weapon for immediate use, and direct him to his assigned sector. Each fighter was then to emerge rapidly, assume a prone combat posture, engage any nearby ambush if necessary, and protect the rest of the team until all had exited. The guide would then seal the tunnel entrance carefully, while the rear guard concealed the traces outside it as far as possible before moving to a position suitable for intercepting reinforcements.

Throughout the day the resistance monitored the occupation’s position, closely watching it for any unusual behavior that might suggest that the enemy had sensed danger, although no such indication was perceived. At 2:00 a.m., after prayer, the resistance’s assault team entered the tunnel in the order in which the fighters were to emerge at the other end. The tank unit went first because its objective was the farthest away and because the tank was regarded as the key point upon which the site and any reinforcements depended. The armored unit near the tower and close to the fence followed second, with the mission of confronting the armored vehicle used to detect infiltrators. Third came the tower unit, consisting of Muhammad Farwana and Hamid al-Rantisi. The rear guard went last.[20]

The team moved through the tunnel while reciting supplications and preparing for combat. The distance traversed was about 450 meters, which the fighters covered on their hands and knees in roughly half an hour. They performed the dawn prayer inside the tunnel, and before they emerged, two rescue, support, and medical teams were directed to an area near the withdrawal line, where they had already been concealed among the trees since the previous evening. Military media personnel were also assigned to selected positions after receiving the necessary guidance, indicating the importance attached to documenting the operation.[21]

Once the dawn prayer had been completed at the tunnel’s end, the guide distributed the fighters’ equipment and the men exited one by one, assuming combat positions immediately upon emergence. At that moment, the guide noticed a jeep manned by the occupation’s military parked by a group of trees in the opposite area, with no visible movement around it. The guide briefly considered undertaking a diversion ambush whereby one of the fighters would attack the jeep and capture its occupants, but the decision was made to adhere to the original objective. The resistance’s command later assessed that the vehicle likely belonged to an ambush unit positioned some distance from the fence in order to catch infiltrators, although this account leaves open the possibility that the occupation’s military members who were manning the jeep had simply fallen asleep among the trees or that the jeep had been left empty as a decoy.[22]

After the entire team emerged, the guide directed each two-man unit toward its target, while the rear guard proceeded separately. At that point the attackers discovered that the occupation’s side had illuminated the entire area with powerful searchlights, effectively turning night into daylight. Despite this, command ordered the fighters to rely on speed and concealment and to continue, since retreat was judged impossible. Moving along the lines of forest trees bordering the agricultural fields and using the walls of the outer towers for cover, the units advanced toward their targets. Meanwhile, the guide filled previously prepared bags with sand and stacked them at the tunnel entrance. He had intended that the last man conceal the traces outside the exit with a tree branch, but because the danger of detection under the searchlights had become too great, the rear guard omitted that step and moved immediately to his assigned position. The guide then withdrew from the area entirely after confirming that all drilling equipment and traces from the surrounding preparation sites, apart from the tunnel and its immediate vicinity, had already been removed the previous day.

Each unit advanced while remaining in constant contact with the operations room and reporting what lay ahead. When all units had reached their objectives, they were ordered to remain concealed until the tank unit arrived. The signal for launching the assault was the detonation of the explosive charge placed against the tank, since the tank represented both the most dangerous and the farthest target. When the tank unit reported that the area was calm and that no suspicious movement was visible, it was ordered to proceed according to the agreed first plan. The fighters emplaced the charge, and a powerful explosion followed, sending flames and black smoke high into the air. At that point all other units were ordered to attack.

After the assault began, the armored unit discovered that the armored vehicle had been moved during the night into earthen berms for protection against anti-tank missiles. Command therefore ordered implementation of a second plan. The fighters detonated the vehicle’s fuel tank, climbed onto its roof, and emptied their weapons and equipment into its openings. The account states that they then saw the charred remains of six bodies on the seats inside. Because they were unable either to take a prisoner or retrieve a body from the armored vehicle, they were instructed to withdraw quickly. Before doing so, however, they were ordered to breach the electronic fence nearest their position by firing a Yassin missile and then detonating an explosive charge at one corner of the barrier. Although each fighter carried wire cutters, these were ultimately unnecessary. After creating the breach, the two fighters crossed the fence, crawled beneath the barbed wire behind it, and then ran across open ground.[23]

At the same time, the tower unit advanced toward a tall concrete tower described in the plan as an intelligence tower. After destroying and breaching the control room at its base, they signaled their success to the operations room and then moved on to a second tower, a concrete structure enclosed within a metal framework intended to deflect anti-armor missiles and shells. They stormed and destroyed the guard room at the base of that tower as well and again reported success. Having completed this task, they were then ordered to climb to the top of the tower and destroy the room located there, which controlled the cameras mounted above. The unit ascended the internal stairway with the understanding that a movable stair connected the top room to the roof, which functioned as a bunker armed with a machine gun and equipped with multiple cameras, and that soldiers stationed there would likely take shelter in designated hiding places upon hearing the attackers approach.[24]

While storming the upper section of the tower and maintaining contact with the operations room, the unit was fired upon by an occupation soldier who emerged from hiding. One of the two fighters was shot in the chest and began to weaken. When this was reported, the operations room ordered the pair to withdraw immediately and leave the site, instructing the uninjured fighter to assist his wounded comrade by any means possible. The uninjured fighter then reported that the wounded man had lost all strength and could no longer continue. At that point, the operations room judged that the unit would be unable to withdraw. It therefore ordered the two men to take cover behind concrete blocks, withdraw from their previous position, and ready their grenades for the imminent arrival of reinforcements, since surrender was ruled out. The command staff simultaneously sought to steady them by reminding them of the spiritual reward that awaited them.[25]

The situation was then reassessed, and a further order was issued: regardless of their condition, the two fighters were to climb once more to the top of the tower and use the medium machine gun located there to prevent reinforcing patrols from approaching the barbed wire, since the safety of the five fighters escorting the prisoner had become more important than the survival of the two men pinned down at the tower. According to the account, the two fighters climbed the tower a second time despite their wounds and attempted again to storm the upper room. They were met with renewed fire from a concealed occupation soldier and both were struck down. The final sounds reportedly heard in the operations room were takbir, the shahada, gunfire, a person speaking Hebrew, and the sound of something being dragged across the ground before communications ceased. The two dead are identified as Hamid al-Rantisi of the al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades and Muhammad Farwana of Jaysh al-Islam.

The operation nevertheless continued. The two members of the tank unit, having detonated the tank and thereby initiated the broader attack, climbed onto the vehicle and threw hand grenades and fired bursts into it through its openings. After this, those remaining inside were forced to emerge. One soldier came out through the turret hatch apparently without intending to fight, despite the presence of personal weapons inside the tank. One of the attackers attempted to shoot him but experienced a weapon malfunction, which he quickly corrected before informing the operations room that a soldier had exited. By this point enemy reinforcements were still arriving from the rear, and command could not yet be certain that the rear guard had fully succeeded in blocking them.

The soldier who emerged first was then hit by gunfire and collapsed back into the turret opening with his head protruding from the hatch. The account states that he was later identified as the tank commander, a lieutenant. Another soldier then emerged and was immediately shot and killed. The final surviving soldier remained inside, shouting in Hebrew, before raising his hands in surrender and crying out, “I want my mother… I want my father.” The tank unit informed the operations room that this soldier was “white like Europeans,” and the account states that the standing instructions were to capture only white occupation soldiers of European origin. On that basis, command ordered that he be taken prisoner. The two fighters kept their rifles trained on him and ordered him to move ahead of them.

When the attackers reached the barbed-wire fence separating Gaza from the territory occupied in 1948, the captive soldier, terrified by the situation, assisted them in lifting the wire so that he could crawl beneath it, followed by the two fighters. He then ran ahead of them, his body language reportedly suggesting that he was pleading to be spared and taken along. The group reached a secure area inside the Gaza Strip parallel to the fence and informed the operations room that they had arrived safely with the prisoner.

The operations room then ordered the extraction unit to move immediately to retrieve the assault team from the designated point, and the fighters were quickly evacuated by vehicle from the entire area to a secure location near the operations room, where they provided an initial verbal debriefing. The prisoner, meanwhile, was escorted out of the area to another sector. A support unit equipped with medium machine guns had earlier been ordered to distract the towers once they came under attack and, if necessary, to counter any helicopters that might intervene. After the success of the operation, however, the support unit’s continued presence in the area became a liability because of the risk of later air intervention, although the withdrawal of the assault group was completed before the support elements left their own positions. Other sectors were then ordered to halt artillery and rocket fire against points along the occupied strip.

The command personnel in the operations room conducted an initial debriefing with the tank and armored teams. Afterward, the fighters changed into clean clothes, ate breakfast, and were evacuated from the Rafah area with instructions to avoid attracting the attention of any residents. Once they had reached another part of the sector, they each returned home as normal without carrying anything with them.[26]

A particularly important role in the operation was assigned to the rear guard. During the planning and briefing stages, this role had been emphasized as essential to preventing the enemy from regaining the initiative after the initial strike and from quickly grasping the situation and taking sudden countermeasures before the full withdrawal of the assault team. Despite the seriousness of the task, responsibility for protecting the rear of the three attacking units and cutting off reinforcements coming from deep inside occupation-controlled territory was assigned to a single fighter with previous experience. According to the resistance’s own archival accounts, he engaged approximately six enemy patrols full of soldiers using only the limited weapons he carried, confronting each patrol with a different weapon and causing all of them to flee. According to this account, soldiers abandoned their vehicles in panic and dispersed in all directions. Once the operations room confirmed that the tank and armored units had withdrawn safely, it ordered the rear guard to withdraw through the same breach.[27]

Following this, a signal was sent to the Battalion Command Council, which immediately issued new instructions. One of its staff officers, accompanied by a mobile unit from the Qassam Special Forces, moved to the location where the prisoner was being held. There, the prisoner’s clothes were replaced and he was thoroughly searched. He was given water and food and, according to the account, strict orders were in force not to subject him to physical harm or verbal abuse, in conformity with Islamic law. The resistance’s witness narrative states that the prisoner requested to be turned over to the Red Cross and assigned a registration number so that his family would be informed, in accordance with instructions allegedly given to occupation soldiers in such circumstances. The request was refused, and he was told instead that he would return safely only if the occupation leadership released large numbers of Palestinian prisoners.[28]

The prisoner was then transferred in a camouflaged vehicle under the guard of the Special Brigades to another concealed site prepared in advance, and the area was cleared of all traces of either the captive or the fighters’ activity. The shelter prepared for him was described as fully equipped to resist any rescue attempt and to be destroyed if the site itself came under attack. The guards also provided him with underwear and soap and informed him that he was expected to maintain personal cleanliness and keep the area clean daily or else lose certain comforts. The account states that he complied.

The source concludes that the occupation’s side was stunned by the speed with which a supposedly critical anti-infiltration sector had been struck. The plan had estimated that the full operation would require ten minutes, but the mission was reportedly completed in eight. The account claims that the occupation army subsequently held local sector commanders responsible and dismissed a number of officers. After the fighting ceased, communications between the occupation’s soldiers at the site and their command had broken down, and a command team arrived to make an initial assessment. Other forces gathered up the soldiers who had fled from supporting patrols during the fighting and collected the dead. A technical team then examined the losses across the site, collected physical evidence, and prepared a detailed analysis of the attackers’ actions.

An armored force reportedly entered the area, crossed through the gate in the electronic fence, and bulldozed land and farms on the opposite side for more than 500 meters. A tracking unit then discovered the tunnel entrance, after which the occupation army demolished both the entrance and the tunnel’s entire route. The account also states that the occupation’s military investigated why the checkpoints and armored units in the sector had been so slow to transmit radio warning of the attack. According to the narrative, the only immediate response from the surrounding towers had been to activate orange warning lights at their tops, and al-Qassam’s observers saw all of the towers along the eastern occupied strip illuminate those orange lights as soon as the explosions were heard and seen.

In its broader interpretation, the operation was directed not merely at a military position but at the occupation’s system of military, security, and political decision-making as a whole. The narrative argues that the attack humiliated the occupation’s army, undermined its claims of deterrence, and demonstrated that the military units entrusted with defending the Gaza envelope and “green line” settlements could not protect itself from a small group of Palestinian resistance fighters. It further states that the occupation’s military responded with repeated bombardments and incursions under the name “Summer Rains,” while the Palestinian side developed a subsequent plan titled Wafa al-Ahrar (“Loyalty of the Free”) and continued operations along selected axes. The subsequent five years are presented as a period in which the Palestinian people and the resistance sustained heavy sacrifices while demonstrating substantial security, intelligence, and negotiating capacities, culminating in the release of 1,050 Palestinian prisoners, many of them serving life sentences or very long terms, in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

II. Counterintelligence

Following an initial assessment, the planners of “The Vanishing Illusion” operation identified the southern stretch near Kerem Shalom as the most advantageous location for the operation. Acting under directives from Raʿid al-ʿAtar and Muhammad Sinwar, field commanders conducted on-the-ground reconnaissance, while observers compiled detailed data on terrain features opposite the targeted IDF position.[29]

The timing of the raid was not incidental. It was scheduled for the overnight hours between Saturday and Sunday, a window that Hamas likely calculated would coincide with reduced The occupation’s troop levels and diminished alertness over the weekend. The attackers appear to have anticipated that early Sunday morning—after the Sabbath—would present especially favorable conditions. Some of the resistance’s accounts further suggest that Hamas understood the routine tank procedures undertaken by the occupation’s military, including the tendency of soldiers to use the rear hatch instead of the turret to minimize exposure to snipers, which in turn shaped the method of abduction.[30]

In the final lead-up, operatives worked continuously to record and photograph the occupation military’s positions in the area. Commanders and assault team members scrutinized these materials to map approach routes, plan withdrawal paths, and study the behavioral patterns of soldiers as well as patrol cycles along the fence. A Hamas operative, Mustafa Muʿamar, had earlier filmed multiple sites around Kerem Shalom at the direction of Muhammad Abu Shimallah, submitting the footage upon completion.

Shortly before the mission, Ahmad al-Jaʿbari reportedly told the assault unit that the soldiers at the objective were asleep in their quarters, reflecting a high degree of familiarity with the occupation soldiers’ routines. He also anticipated a severe military response by the response and therefore intended to conceal Shalit until the initial retaliation subsided before entering negotiations.

Events unfolded largely in line with that expectation. However, an additional abduction carried out by Hizbu’llah on 12 July 2006 along the Lebanese border with occupied Palestine redirected a substantial portion of the occupation’s military focus northward, potentially reducing the scale or duration of operations in Gaza. Al-Jaʿbari’s projections were informed in part by earlier responses by the occupation’s military to Hizbu’llah 2000 capture of soldiers.

After his capture, Shalit was interrogated for military intelligence. A specialized unit assembled by al-Jaʿbari—composed of individuals proficient in Hebrew—managed his detention and facilitated communication. Consistent with later practices seen in the Tufan al-Aqsa operation, members of the assault team were not informed of the precise mission details until immediately prior to execution, when they were shown the tunnel and briefed on their objective.

The tunnel itself had been excavated clandestinely to evade the occupation’s detection. Throughout construction, forward observers monitored the occupation’s troop movements to maintain operational secrecy, while internal oversight ensured that the diggers did not inadvertently expose the project. The excavation relied on rudimentary methods to avoid the noise signature of heavy machinery, and debris was removed gradually—often at night—to prevent visible accumulation. Reports indicate that laborers, possibly drawn from Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees in northern Gaza, were relocated south and isolated from their families for months until the operation concluded.

Conclusion

On 23 June 2006, two days before the operation, the occupation’s military apprehended Mustafa Muʿamar, who possessed detailed knowledge of the plan.[31] Despite intensive interrogation, he disclosed information only incrementally, and the most critical details emerged only after the abduction had already taken place, rendering them operationally useless for prevention.

Immediately after the capture, Shalit was transferred to a concealed location and required medical care. A Hamas medic was brought in under strict conditions—his head covered to prevent identification of the site. During the initial weeks of captivity, Shalit was guarded by two individuals whose communications were tightly restricted; they relied exclusively on a courier connected to al-Jaʿbari for contact with the outside world.

Security oversight of the detention fell to Raʿid al-ʿAtar and Muhammad Sinwar, while a regional intelligence unit monitored all movement in the area and relayed continuous updates to Hamas leadership under the pretense of protecting a senior figure. Personnel assigned to the vicinity were closely affiliated with al-Jaʿbari and belonged to the military wing.

Hamas simultaneously tracked the occupation military’s reconnaissance efforts, including aerial surveillance, drones, and observation balloons, and intensified scrutiny of suspected collaborators. Individuals displaying unusual behavior—such as loiterers or beggars—were placed under observation amid concerns that the occupation was deploying diverse intelligence-gathering methods to locate Shalit.

To manage this threat, Hamas activated a specialized unit tasked with identifying and interrogating collaborators. In one reported case, a woman from Khan Yunis collected medical waste daily from al-Najjar Hospital, allegedly in search of material linked to Shalit, and delivered it to a handler from Deir al-Balah. Under questioning, the woman admitted her actions but claimed ignorance of their purpose. After her release, Hamas surveilled her meeting with the handler, apprehended him, and obtained a confession that he had transferred the materials to the occupation’s intelligence via the Kisufim crossing.

Interrogations of such collaborators revealed that many recruits originated from the Rafah area, prompting Hamas to concentrate surveillance efforts there. This pattern suggested that the occupation’s intelligence may have believed Shalit was being held in that region, at least for a period.

Operational compartmentalization was extremely strict. Al-Jaʿbari reportedly refused to disclose details about Shalit even to Hamas’s political leadership. Ismail Haniyeh, who sought to meet the captive, was denied access. Hamas implemented extensive countermeasures to preserve secrecy, again presaging how Tufan al-Aqsa’s preparations would remain shrouded from even the Hamas political bureau.[32]

That Shalit remained concealed for nearly five years within the confined geography of the Gaza Strip—without the occupation’s forces locating him—demonstrates the effectiveness of Hamas’s counterintelligence practices, disciplined security protocols, and detailed understanding of the occupation’s surveillance capabilities and their potential threat to the organization. The effectively of these practices was again evinced by the effectivity of the resistance’s concealing the prisoners of war that it took on 7 October 2023.

The initial communique published by the al-Qassam Brigades reads as follows:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. {So you did not kill them, but Allah killed them. And you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw, that He might test the believers with a good trial from Himself. Indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.}

Military Statement Issued by the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, and Jaysh al-Islam

In response to the cries of the child Huda Ghalia, and in retaliation for the blood of the martyred leaders:

Operation “The Dispelled Illusion”

A crushing blow to the enemy, and a final, unequivocal message to halt the aggression

O sons of our mujahid Palestinian people, O masses of our Arab and Islamic nation:

Today, the Zionist illusion that it can break the will of the Palestinian people and their valiant resistance, or force them onto a particular path, is collapsing. It collapses before the steadfastness and determination of the gallant mujahideen and their unbreakable resolve. These mujahideen sought the help of Allah Almighty and prepared themselves to confront the enemies of Allah, so they might make them drink from the same cup from which our innocent civilians and the leaders of the resistance have drunk.

The full details of the operation carried out this morning, Sunday, 29 Jumada al-Awwal 1427 AH, corresponding to June 25, 2006 CE, are as follows: the targeted site, described as “the support and protection positions belonging to the Zionist army,” was a military intelligence site extending approximately one kilometer. The operation began at exactly 05:15 with preliminary shelling and diversionary fire targeting the Zionist garrisons at the Sofa and Karm Abu Salem crossings using mortars and machine guns, as shown in the video footage distributed to the media.

The operation then entered its execution phase, carried out by the “behind-the-lines landing unit,” a joint unit formed by the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, and the Jaysh al-Islam. The unit eliminated the site’s entire crew, leaving them dead or wounded. It also completely destroyed a Merkava 3 tank and an armored personnel carrier, and eliminated their crews. The military intelligence site itself was partially destroyed.

The following were martyred in this qualitative operation:

The operation was executed swiftly and according to a meticulous plan, by the grace, guidance, and protection of Allah, and after prolonged intelligence and security work by the resistance. We affirm that this morning’s strike was devastating, by the grace of Allah, despite the enemy’s lies and its attempts to conceal its losses.

The enemy understands clearly that the resistance could have carried out a series of martyrdom and bombing operations inside its cities and population centers. Instead, it chose this time to strike this fortified military complex, which we penetrated by the grace of Allah and through our own will and determination. The operation serves as a final and unequivocal message to the enemy leadership: spare civilians from its hateful fire and confine the confrontation to the heroes of the resistance and its defeated soldiers.

This message is directed first and foremost to the butchers of children: the enemy’s prime minister, minister of war, and chief of staff, all of whom remain consumed by the legacy of those who came before them and find no way to prove themselves except through a succession of massacres that would make even Hulagu Khan blush.

This operation came in response to the cries of the child Huda Ghalia. We, the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, and the Jaysh al-Islam, dedicate this operation to the brave prisoners, especially Commander Sheikh Ibrahim Hamid, and to our female prisoners who seek help from Allah Almighty and from people of honor and courage.

We also dedicate it to the Palestinian people, united in the face of the enemy, and to the steadfast Arab and Islamic nation standing firm against pressure. We dedicate it as well to the mujahideen throughout the world, for the battle is one even if the fronts are many. We further dedicate it to the families of the innocent martyrs, foremost among them the Ghalia family, and to our martyred leaders Fawzi Abu al-Qara, Hassan al-Madhoun, Abu Youssef al-Qouqa, Jamal Abu Samhadana, and Khaled al-Dahdouh.

(We will announce further details later.)

It is jihad: victory or martyrdom.

The Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades

The Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades

Jaysh al-Islam

Sunday, 29 Jumada al-Awwal 1427 AH, corresponding to June 25, 2006 CE

The post-operation assessment report published by the al-Qassam Brigades reads as follows:

The “Shattered Illusion” Operation—The Capture of Soldier Gilad Shalit

Type of operation: Capture.

Location of the operation: The Zionist military post “Kerem Shalom” south of the Gaza Strip.

Date of the operation: June 25, 2006.

Enemy casualties: Two soldiers killed, others wounded, and the capture of soldier Gilad Shalit.

Operation Details

The mujahideen of the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, and Jaysh al-Islam successfully carried out Operation “The Shattered Illusion,” which took place on the morning of Sunday, 29 Jumada al-Awwal 1427 AH, corresponding to June 25, 2006 CE. The operation targeted support and protection positions belonging to the Zionist army on the eastern border of the city of Rafah.

The operation began at exactly 05:15 with a preliminary barrage of mortar fire to engage the Zionist garrisons at the Sufa and Kerem Shalom crossings, followed by the actual operation carried out by the assault unit, which infiltrated the site through an underground tunnel and positioned itself behind enemy lines. The unit divided into several groups, each tasked with striking specific targets, as follows:

First Group: It detonated the Merkava tank that was providing protection and support at the site. The attack on the tank resulted in the death of two members of its crew and the wounding of another, while one soldier was captured alive by Al-Qassam.

The second group: destroyed the troop carrier, killing its entire crew; however, the enemy, as usual, attempted to conceal its losses and downplay them by claiming that the troop carrier had been placed at the site for camouflage purposes.

The third group: It partially destroyed the military intelligence post (the Red Tower) and then engaged in a firefight with the soldiers manning the post; during this clash, the martyrs Muhammad Farwana and Hamid al-Rantisi were martyred.

The mujahideen who stormed the site then withdrew and returned to their bases, protected by the care of the Merciful, after having executed the operation with complete precision; most importantly, they returned with a precious prize that, from that moment on, revived the hope of freedom for the heroic prisoners.

Results of the Operation:

First: Direct Results:

1-Casualties: The mujahideen captured the Zionist soldier “Gilad Shalit” from inside his tank. The operation also resulted in the deaths of the tank commander and his assistant, in addition to six others being wounded.

2- Material losses: During the operation, an upgraded Merkava Mark III tank was destroyed, as well as an armored personnel carrier, in addition to partial damage to the military intelligence site (the Red Tower).

3- Security losses: This operation inflicted a severe security setback on the enemy. In its wake, sharp disputes erupted between the Zionist security agency, the “Shin Bet,” and the Zionist army regarding the intelligence failure that accompanied the operation—specifically, the factions’ ability to dig the tunnel used in the raid without the enemy detecting it and destroying it prior to the operation.

Second: Indirect Consequences:

1- The completion of the “al-Hara’ir” deal: This deal, brokered by a German mediator, involved the occupation authorities releasing 20 Palestinian female prisoners and three prisoners from the Syrian Golan Heights in exchange for a one-minute video of the captured Israeli soldier.

2- Completion of the “Wafa al-Ahrar” deal: This deal was brokered by Egyptian intelligence; the total number of prisoners released in the deal was 1,027, and it was carried out in two phases:

• Phase One: Included 477 prisoners, of whom 315 had been sentenced to life imprisonment and the rest to long prison terms, in addition to 27 female prisoners, five of whom had been sentenced to life imprisonment.

• Phase Two: 550 prisoners were released two months after the first phase, in accordance with criteria that included, most importantly, that the released prisoners not have been detained on criminal charges.[33]

[1] Izzat Jamal, 17 Years After Gilad Shalit’s Capture, Capture Remains an Option,” Qassam.ps, 25 June 2023; retrieved online (8 June 2026): https://shorturl.at/InnrV

[2] Ibid. Relatedly, Hamas political bureau member Mahmoud Mardawi referred to the Shalit exchange and compared it to the then expected Tufan al-Aqsa exchange; see: Elham Abdel Aziz, Interview with Mahmoud Mardawi, Cairo24, 24 January 2024; retrieved online (8 June 2026): https://www.cairo24.com/1944171

[3] International Crisis Group [hereafter: ICG] interview, Khalid Abu Hilal, Gaza City, 30 October 2010. A PRC leader had a similar assessment, though one that gave more weight to the PRC. ICG interview, Muhammad Abdel-Al (Abu Abir), Gaza City, 31 October 2010. In ICG, “Radical Islam in Gaza, Middle East Report No. 104,” 29 March 2011, p. 8n72.

[4] “The attack by Palestinian armed factions on Israel on 7 October,” Human Rights Watch, 17 July 2024; retrieved online (31 May 2025): https://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2024/07/17/questions-and-answers-hamas-led-armed-groups-october-7-2023-assault-israel ; “It’s not just Hamas… Find out about the leading resistance factions in Palestine,” Al-Jazeera, 27 November 2023; retrieved online (31 May 2026): https://shorturl.at/t79ws.

[5] Shortly thereafter, Jaysh al-Islam became sympathetic with al-Qaeda’s Salafi-jihadi ideology. In ICG, “Radical Islam in Gaza,” op. cit., Hamas cleric and Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Marwan Abu Ras remarks that: “At that time when we cooperated with them [viz., Jaysh al-Islam], and we kidnapped Shalit, it wasn’t clear that they carried any affiliation with al-Qaeda. This came out after … and then we cut off any relations with them.”

Jaysh al-Islam subsequently kidnapped two journalists working with Fox News and one working for the BBC, and developed deep enmity towards Hamas leading to an armed conflict between the two groups. For more on these developments, see: “Radical Islam in Gaza,” op. cit., pp. 8-11. As the ICG report reviews on p. 8:

Jaysh al-Islam came to prominence during the chaotic interval following Hamas’s 2006 electoral victory. Hamas found the group useful at first. But as it revealed its sympathies with al-Qaeda, it became a liability, and Hamas, after taking over Gaza, swiftly took action against it. Jaysh al-Islam was formed by members of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), one of Gaza’s larger militant factions, around the end of 2005. It is led by Mumtaz Dughmush, a former member of the PA’s Preventive Security Organisation who for years allegedly had been contracted for militant operations by both Hamas and Fatah. He comes from one of Gaza’s larger and more powerful clans, which controlled the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City until Hamas took it by force in September 2008. A Hamas official claimed Dughmush was deranged, illiterate and obsessed with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the deceased leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

[…]

But seven weeks after Shalit’s capture, it seized two journalists working with Fox News (U.S.), called for the “liberation of Muslims detained in American prisons” and forced the hostages to convert to Islam before letting them go. Hamas said it had received assurances that similar acts would not recur. The following year, after its March 2007 capture of Alan Johnston, a British reporter for the BBC, Jaysh al-Islam demanded the release from UK custody of an al- Qaeda-affiliated Palestinian-Jordanian cleric, Abu Qatada al-Filastini (Omar Mahmoud Othman), whose recorded sermons were found in a Hamburg apartment rented by one of the 11 September 2001 hijackers, Muhammad Atta.

[…]

Jaysh al-Islam’s fortunes changed once Hamas took over Gaza, during Johnston’s third month of captivity. One of the new government’s first acts was to issue an ultimatum to Johnston’s captors When the ultimatum was ignored, Hamas arrested a Jaysh al-Islam leader and alleged veteran of the war in Afghanistan, Khattab al-Maqdisi (Ahmed Mazlum), reportedly the orchestrator of the kidnapping and the brains behind Dughmush. Jaysh al-Islam retaliated by kidnapping several Islamic University students.83 The following day, the Executive Force arrested fifteen of Dughmush’s kinsmen and laid siege to his home in Gaza City, securing Johnston’s release. Relations between the two groups deteriorated further over succeeding months, reaching a breaking point the following year. In the wake of three bombings that occurred on 25 July 2008, police entered the Dughmush quarter […]

The ICG report, op. cit., p. 9n76 adds that:

Jaysh al-Islam said that in place of Abu Qatada, one of two prisoners in Jordanian detention could be released: Sajida al-Rishawi, an Iraqi woman sentenced to death in the suicide bombing of a Jordanian hotel, and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi (‘Isam Tahir al-Barqawi), a Jordanian cleric of Palestinian origin widely read by Salafi-Jihadis and once a mentor to al-Qaeda in Iraq founder Zarqawi.

Also see: Timeline: Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig’s Ordeal”, Fox News, 28 August 2006; “Profile: Abu Qatada”, BBC, 26 February 2007; “Kidnapped BBC man’s fate hangs on clan feud”, The Guardian, 1 July 2007; “Participant in mediation efforts to Al-Quds al-Arabi: Kidnappers will keep their weapons. Johnston’s release deal: Fatwa, personal concessions, and weapons instead of money to use in resisting occupation”, al-Quds al-Arabi, 5 July 2007; “9 Students of Islamic University Kidnapped by ‘Army of Islam’ in Gaza”, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 3 July 2007; “The hard-liners accuse Hamas of ‘launching a war on Salafism’”, al-Quds al-Arabi, 19 September 2008.

[6] Majd Abuamer, “Gaza’s Subterranean Warfare: Palestinian Resistance Tunnels vs. Israel’s Military Strategy,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (online first, 5 May 2025); retrieved online (28 June 2026); retrieved online (28 June 2026): https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2024.2347843 ; also see Al-Qassam Brigades’ report at: Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, “The ‘Shattered Illusion’ Operation—The Capture of Soldier Gilad Shalit,” n.d.; retrieved online (28 June 2026): https://shorturl.at/d5w6a

[7] “Palestine: Photographer of the Gaza Beach Massacre Recounts Details of the Crime,” 6 December 2006, al-Jazeera; retrieved online (26 May 2026): https://shorturl.at/CR9Px.

[8] Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, “The prisoner exchange deal in numbers,” 18 October 2011; retrieved online (30 March 2026): https://addameer.ps/publications/october-2011-prisoner-exchange-deal.

[9] The most comprehensive account is Mohsen Mohammad Saleh, Shalit: Min ‘Amaliyyat “al-Wahm al-Mutabaddid” ila Safaqat “Wafa’ al-Ahrar [Shalit: From the “Dispelled Illusion” Operation till “Devotion of the Free” Deal] (Beirut: al-Zaytouna, 2012).

[10] ICG, op. cit., p. 9; also see ICG’s interview with Muhammad Abdel-Al (Abu Abir), Gaza City, 31 October 2010, paraphrased on the same page.

[11] “al-Waim al-mutabadad…usturat al-daqaʾiq al-thamaniyyah,” al-Risalah, 25 June 2020.

[12] Ibid. Cf. “Kshelakhu et gilad – hashihzur hamale [Gilad Shalit – A Complete Reconstruction of the Kidnapping,” Channel 10, 17 May 2011; retrieved online (27 June 2026): www.youtube.com/watch?v=znYpvU4IHbs.

[13] “National Memory: He Led the Al-Qassam Brigades After Al-Deif: Who Is Mohammed Al-Sinwar?” Ultra Palestine, 29 December 2025; retried online (26 May 2026): https://shorturl.at/psJLs .

[14] “16 years since its execution: Details of the 8 minutes of Operation ‘The Vanishing Illusion’ (Wahm al-Ahar) and the capture of Shalit”, Safa, 25 June 2022; retrieved online (30 March 2026): https://shorturl.at/AjWqg.

[15] Sliman al-Shafaʿi, Aviva Shabi, and Roni Shaked, Hashavui: Mabat me-ʿAzah [The Captive: A View from Gaza] (Tel Aviv: Yedioth Ahronoth/Sifre Hemed/Miskal, 2009), 44, 118-119.

[16] “Kshelakhu et gilad,” op. cit.

[17] ʿAdnān ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Abū ʿĀmir, Daḥr al-Muqāwamah lil-Iḥtilāl ʿan Qiṭāʿ Ghazzah: Bidāyat Hazīmat al-Mashrūʿ al-Ṣahyūnī [Resistance’s Expulsion of the Occupation from the Gaza Strip: The Beginning of the Defeat of the Zionist Project] (Beirut: Bāḥith lil-Dirāsāt, 2007); Muḥammad Abū Ṭayr, Sayyidī ʿUmar: Dhikrayāt al-Shaykh Muḥammad Abū Ṭayr fī al-Muqāwamah wa-Thalāthah wa-Thalāthīn ʿĀman min al-Iʿtiqāl [My Master ʿUmar: Memories of Shaykh Muḥammad Abū Ṭayr in the Resistance and Thirty-Three Years of Imprisonment], ed. Bilāl Muḥammad Shalash (Beirut: Markaz al-Zaytūnah lil-Dirāsāt wa-l-Istishārāt, 2017).

[18] ʿAlāʾ Jamāl al-Najjār, Ruʾyah Ḥawla al-Amn al-Qawmī al-Filasṭīnī: al-Mafhūm, al-Taḥaddiyāt, al-Furaṣ, Subul al-Taʿzīz [A Vision of Palestinian National Security: Concept, Challenges, Opportunities, and Means of Enhancement] (Doha: Markaz al-Jazīrah lil-Dirāsāt, 2024).

[19] Ibid.

[20] Fatḥī ʿAbd al-Qādir Sulṭān and Muḥammad Rajab Salāmah, al-Mikhlab al-Damawī: al-Shīn Bīt (al-Shābāk), Jihāz al-Amn al-Dākhilī al-Isrāʾīlī [The Bloody Claw: Shin Bet (Shabak), the Israeli Internal Security Service] (Amman: al-Ahliyyah lil-Nashr wa-l-Tawzīʿ, 2002).

[21] “Kshelakhu et gilad,” op. cit.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Al-Qassam Brigades, “The ‘Shattered Illusion’ Operation,” op. cit.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Ibid.

[28] Ibid.

[29] Al-Qassam Brigades, “The Shattered Illusion: The Myth of the Eight Minutes,” Parts 1 – 8, 25 June 2024; retrieved online (28 June 2026): https://shorturl.at/76Y1y.

[30] Al-Qassam Brigades, Press Statement, 18 March 2009; retrieved online (28 June 2026): https://shorturl.at/lGIYz.

[31] Netanel Flamer, The Hamas Intelligence War against Israel (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2024), pp. 148-149.

[32] The resistance also operated covertly, avoiding engagements with outside organizations. When the occupation attempted to deliver eyeglasses to Shalit through the Red Cross, Hamas rejected them over fears that they contained tracking technology. Ibid.

[33] Al-Qassam Brigades, “The ‘Shattered Illusion’ Operation,” op. cit.

Mujamma Haraket
source: Mujamma Haraket Substack

Al-Qassam Executes Informer in Gaza

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

After exhausting all revolutionary measures, the resistance security services executed the death sentence against the agent (M.M.), who was convicted of his association with the Zionist occupation intelligence and who committed several massacres that led to the death of many of our steadfast people during the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip. He also caused a number of assassinations against leaders of the resistance factions, the last of which was the assassination of the Chief of Staff of the Qassam Brigades, the martyr Commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad, “Abu Suhaib.”

Accordingly, we at Resistance Security affirm the following:

1- This is the fate of agents who cooperate with the occupation and are consistent with its plans aimed at trying to undermine the steadfastness and unity of our people.

2- We call on everyone who lost their way and linked their fate to the occupation to return to the national ranks before it is too late and surrender themselves to the resistance security services.

3- These agents who are outside the national ranks represent only themselves, and are in violation of the customs and traditions of Palestinian families and clans, which have a national role in preserving the unity of the internal ranks and confronting the plans of the occupation and its aides.

“And God has control over His affairs, but most people do not know.”

Hajj Ramadan.. From Gaza in the Midst of the Flood to Qom in Iran: Martyr Izz El-Din Al-Qassam Brigades

Beginnings:
While we were facing a barbaric aggression in Gaza, overflowing with Talmudic hatred and Nazi behavior, and waiting at any moment for heavy, destructive, and incendiary bombs to surprise us, we were watching with deep pain the “israeli”-American aggression against a Muslim country that stood by our side, supporting, backing, and defending our rights in facing zionist injustice and American arrogance, tearing down its structures, killing its people, and destroying its capabilities. While we were receiving news about the targeting of scientists and military and political leaders among them, the name of one of these great men reached my ears, making me confused and thoughtful, repeating to myself, could it be him? Then I would return to pray to my Lord that it would not be him. Hours later, the truth was revealed, and the news was as heavy as the weight of his role in supporting the resistance over two decades or more. Perhaps the reader asks: who is this man?

He is the man I knew twenty years ago, who devoted himself and his time to the sake of Allah, and lived as a fighter for the sake of Al-Quds and Palestine. I bear witness that he was a man of character and faith, who thought deeply, planned deliberately, built silently, and struggled with persistence.

The zionist enemy did not overlook him, and never tired of pursuing him. He is the man who stood tall on the southern Syrian mountains, watching Palestine with his own eyes, his tongue stating, “We are coming, God willing,” and then defiantly on the coast of Naqoura in Lebanon, saying, “We will shatter your dreams, you usurping occupiers.” He then remained stationed, sometimes in Damascus and other times in Beirut, his concern being Al-Quds and Palestine, until he was able to create the miracles that immortalized his memory after his departure. The poet’s words were true of him: “Be a man who, when they come after him… they say he passed by, and this is his mark.”

He is the man who was loved by the Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution, the martyr Sayyed Ali Khamenei, who reserved a space for him in his heart. He often praised him and his work on the Palestine file, to the point that he did not replace him and kept him in his position until God chose him as a martyr.

He is the man whom the enemy pursued, and pursued until it reached him—may God grant him abundant mercy. He is the martyr—we count him as such, and we do not purify anyone before Allah—Major General Mohammad Saeed Izadi (Hajj Ramadan), who was martyred on 21/06/2025 in his city of Qom, following a brutal “israeli” aggression on Iran in the heat of the war that began on 13/06/2025, to bid farewell to this world with his body, while remaining immortal with his deeds and his struggle in the Axis of Resistance for the sake of Al-Quds and Palestine.

My acquaintance with him, described as the “Shadow Man,” began in Damascus around 2005, as the coordinator of resistance relations. The relationship and acquaintance continued for many long years. My last meeting with him was in Haret Hreik in the Southern Dahiya of Beirut in 2022. Reaching him was not easy, for the enemy classified him as a “dangerous man,” so it was the duty of Hezbollah, the host, to protect him. I entered to see him that day, accompanied by some Al-Qassam brothers from Gaza, to discuss some issues of concern to the resistance. I became more certain of what I knew about him: that he was a man of few words and much action; his tongue did not stop remembering God, and in his gaze was the concern for work and the passion for achievement. I was drawn to a picture hanging on the glass door of the salon cabinet in front of the dining table, showing him with Dr. Rantisi—may God have mercy on him. He said to us, proudly, that it was in Marj al-Zuhur, to confirm to me my conviction of the extent of his sincerity and the truth of his belonging to Palestine and its people. I learned that his visit to the deportees in Marj al-Zuhur was a visit of support and backing, in his name and on behalf of the Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian Republic. The visit ended with great welcome from him and a sincere promise to support the resistance and its men with all forms of support, as we had known him.

His efforts in supporting and developing the resistance system and his role in the Al-Quds Axis:
Hajj Ramadan dedicated his time to serving the fighters in various fields, and was a true partner in supporting and backing the Palestinian resistance with all its diverse orientations. Indeed, his fingerprints are clear in developing its manufacturing and technological capabilities, in rockets and their guidance, and in drones of all kinds. He is the one who coordinated and supervised hundreds of military courses, within the framework of building and preparing the fighter for various Palestinian factions. He was also the one who worked on establishing a project for the resistance in southern Lebanon, so the Radwan Force was the product of his insistence on moving forward with the actual and quantitative building of the resistance forces, for the sake of complete readiness to do what is required when needed. He also contributed to developing the military understanding among the men of the resistance inside and outside Palestine. One of his most important coordinations in this regard was his keenness to establish the Command and Staff course for the military and security leadership of Hamas, which lasted for nearly two years, with trainees moving between Damascus and Tehran until its completion. This course was one of his good deeds and lasting marks. I will not forget that the resistance in Gaza and Palestine benefited from the scientific material of this course, the day they made part of it into the curricula of the Military Academy of the Martyr Izz El-Din Al-Qassam Brigades.

He was a true partner in logistical support, providing the resistance with various types of weapons. He was a true heir to the path of Hajj Radwan, Imad Mughniyeh, may Allah have mercy on him, whom we knew for his boundless belonging to Al-Quds and Palestine. His primary concern was how to deliver large and varied quantities of weapons to the resistance forces in Gaza. Therefore, Hajj Ramadan continued with significant financial spending to open smuggling routes to Gaza and to build warehouses in various places until he ensured the arrival of weapons to the resistance forces. Thus, an important part of the resistance’s arsenal was built through his efforts in financing, planning, and supervision, until he came to have a real share in the battles of the fighters against the “israeli” enemy.

Hajj Ramadan was not satisfied with his actions in supply, training, and construction. Rather, we found him eager to participate effectively in following up on the confrontations between the resistance forces and the zionist enemy. He was an advisor, a guide, a financier, and one who harnessed everything possible for the resistance during the confrontations. He remained stationed, whether in Beirut or Damascus, in the follow-up cell until he was completely reassured about what could be offered in this regard. Among the most prominent of these follow-ups was his participation and daily monitoring in the crisis cell established by the Foreign Military Operations Department to follow up on the Al-Furqan war in December 2008. He remained, may Allah have mercy on him, stationed in this cell until the end of the war, which lasted twenty-three days, in which the enemy poured out the fires of its hatred, calling it “Cast Lead”. This war claimed the lives of hundreds of martyrs in Gaza of steadfastness and resistance. He was among those who carried the burden of supporting the resistance with weapons, money, guidance, and operational coordination between the resistance in Palestine, the Quds Force, and the Axis of Resistance, throughout his life until he passed away.

He, may Allah have mercy on him, was keen to accomplish his work through constant and direct follow-up with military leaders. He had direct relationships with senior leaders, including the martyr Yahya Sinwar, the martyr Abu Al-Abed Haniyeh, the martyr Saleh Al-Arouri, the martyr Mohammed Deif, and the martyr Abu Al-Baraa Marwan Issa. In addition to numerous meetings with all the heads of the political bureaus of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front, and other Palestinian resistance leaders, in order to overcome obstacles and facilitate tasks. The last of these were the shuttle meetings with the martyr Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh shortly before his martyrdom, in Beirut and Tehran.

Hajj Ramadan’s almost permanent residence in Beirut, where he remained stationed, reflects the extent of his attachment, love, and belonging to Al-Quds and Palestine. His presence close to the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, the martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, played an important role in forming a common opinion regarding ways to support the resistance in Palestine, and developing every idea that would serve the fighters, support them, and strengthen their determination. This actually contributed to numerous meetings with all the resistance forces in order to coordinate joint work. There were many meetings with the martyr Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri in the presence of the martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to develop, support, and assist the resistance work in the West Bank. The arena of Jenin and the armed action cells spread across the governorates of the West Bank are but a product of the efforts of the martyr Sheikh Saleh and his companions with Hajj Ramadan and the Sayyed, may Allah have mercy on them all.

Also, within the framework of his movement, may Allah have mercy on him, in strategic issues stemming from his deep understanding, he worked to strengthen the Axis of Resistance and preserve the unity of the arenas, the supportive effect of which we recently saw in the Al-Aqsa Flood war, with the participation of fighters in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq. His targeting, may Allah have mercy on him, was nothing but a testament to the enemy’s conviction of the extent of his danger to them throughout the years of his life, which he dedicated to participating in a great structure built on solid ideological foundations, mixed with the blood of great martyrs, until the banners of pride, dignity, and glory rise above the minarets of Al-Quds and the lands of Palestine.

Finally, a limited article cannot fulfill even a small part of what this giant man provided for Palestine. He truly lived for Palestine, gave it what nations failed to provide, was martyred for its sake, and left a great, clear impact that will remain standing before generations, saying: “He passed by, and this is his legacy.”

Written by: Dr. Majid Abdullah

Abu Obeida Praises Hezbollah after Failed Zionist Advance in South Lebanon

Abu Obeida, the military spokesman of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades, praised Hezbollah’s military operations in Lebanon and said Resistance fighters continue to inflict significant losses on zionist occupation forces.

He said Hezbollah’s actions come within the framework of “heroic resistance to the aggression against Lebanon, its people and its sovereignty,” describing resistance to occupation as “a right and a duty guaranteed by all laws.”

Abu Obeida argued that the zionist regime’s continued military operations are an attempt to compensate for failures across multiple fronts.

“The enemy is trying, through continuing its crimes and occupation, to compensate for its failure in various arenas,” he said.

He added that zionist efforts to separate the various Resistance fronts have not succeeded.

“The occupation is striving to separate the resistance fronts, but all its attempts are futile, as it has reaped nothing but disappointment and defeat for more than two and a half years,” Abu Obeida stated.

Remarks Come amid Ali al-Taher Battles

Abu Obeida’s comments came as fighting intensified in southern Lebanon, particularly along the Kfar Tebnit–Ali al-Taher axis.

Hezbollah has repeatedly stated that the area is “immune to enemy infiltration” and vowed to prevent Israeli forces from establishing positions on the strategic heights overlooking Nabatieh.

The Resistance recently announced that its fighters confronted zionist forces attempting to advance toward Ali al-Taher, luring troops into prepared ambushes and targeting armored vehicles and troop concentrations.

Zionist Media Acknowledge Setbacks

Zionist media acknowledged that occupation forces failed to seize the Ali al-Taher heights despite intensive military operations in the area.

Reports cited by Al Mayadeen indicated that anti-tank missiles and drone strikes targeted occupation armor and troop movements, forcing evacuations of casualties from the battlefield.

Zionist outlets also described the confrontations as among the most difficult faced by occupation forces in southern Lebanon in recent months.

The latest clashes occurred despite ongoing ceasefire arrangements linked to the Iran-US memorandum of understanding, under which Tehran has repeatedly insisted that any end to regional hostilities must include Lebanon.

source: Palestine Chronicle

Abu Obeida: Settling Accounts With Zionist Regime Ongoing

The “settling of accounts” with “Israel” will remain open until a full and heavy price is paid, the spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, stated on Tuesday, stressing that the “cowardly enemy” is deluded if it believes that it can weaken the Resistance through the assassination of its leaders.

In a statement, Abu Obeida said that “to anyone with insight and sound judgment, it has become clear that we are facing a vile enemy that possesses no morality except its opposite, does not abide by agreements, and has fundamentally misread the situation,” noting that the spilled Palestinian blood has continued unabated despite existing agreements.

He added that the blood of the martyred leaders is “the fuel that drives our ship to overcome hardships,” affirming that “there remain leaders among us who were forged in the fields of steadfastness and preparation, refined by experience and hardened by wars.”

Abu Obeida to the people of Gaza: It is forbidden for us to betray this blood

In a message directed to the people of the Gaza Strip, Abu Obeida said, “Our people in Gaza, we have heard your words, listened to your chants, and witnessed your majestic marches in farewell to the martyred leaders, and it is forbidden for us to betray this blood.”

He continued, “We will remain faithful to you and to embracing your freedom-fighting sons, and these sacrifices, great and immense as they are, will, God willing, yield a clear and decisive victory.”

Abu Obeida also recalled the martyred commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad (Abu Suhaib), head of the General Staff of the al-Qassam Brigades, noting that he played a central role in planning, preparing, and directly overseeing the October 7 operation.

He also highlighted the role of the martyred senior commander Mohammed Odeh, explaining that he left his mark on every field, as he was among the founding core of the brigades’ military manufacturing, before moving on to lead the military intelligence apparatus, where he played a key role in planning the October 7 operation.

Call to mediators and the Arab, Islamic nations to restrain the occupation

On the political and international level, Abu Obeida stressed that the ongoing Israeli crimes place mediators and guarantors of agreements before a moment of truth, considering that “remaining silent or neutral is no longer acceptable.”

He called for unifying and intensifying all efforts to restrain the occupation and compel it to fulfill its commitments, praising Resistance factions that have inflicted losses on the enemy, pointing out the fighters of Lebanon who, he said, have “written epic acts of heroism in confronting Zionist arrogance.”

In conclusion, Abu Obeida renewed his call to the Arab and Islamic nations, urging them to set aside differences and redirect focus toward “the sole enemy of the Ummah.”

Despite ongoing ceasefire arrangements, the occupation continues to carry out assassinations, which Palestinian factions and Resistance movements across the region have consistently condemned as war crimes and violations of international law.

Al-Haddad’s role in rebuilding and leading Al-Qassam Brigades

Al-Haddad, born in Gaza City in 1970, joined Hamas shortly after its establishment in 1987 before emerging as one of the most prominent military leaders within the al-Qassam Brigades. He began his armed activity among the movement’s earliest armed formations and steadily rose through the ranks, serving as a field commander, battalion commander, and later commander of the Gaza Brigade following the assassination of commander Bassem Issa by “Israel” in 2021.

Over recent years, al-Haddad became one of the leading members of the Brigades’ general military council and was tasked with overseeing northern Gaza and rebuilding military capabilities following successive Israeli wars on the Strip. “Israel” accused him of participating in the planning of the October 7 operation and considered him among the key military figures directing combat operations throughout the ongoing war.

Following the assassinations of Mohammad Deif, Marwan Issa, and Mohammad Sinwar, al-Haddad emerged as the most senior military commander within the al-Qassam Brigades, assuming leadership of the Brigades’ General Staff. He became the fifth Chief of Staff in the movement’s history after Salah Shehadeh, Ahmad al-Jaabari, Mohammad Deif, and Mohammad Sinwar.

For years, al-Haddad remained among “Israel’s” most wanted Resistance leaders, surviving several assassination attempts while living between tunnels and secret locations away from public view. With his assassination, the al-Qassam Brigades bid farewell to another commander in its history of resistance and liberation, one regarded as among the movement’s most influential military figures who played a central role in building and directing its armed wing over the past decades.

Hamas Mourns Al-Qassam Commander Mohammad Odeh

The Hamas movement has announced the martyrdom of senior military commander Mohammad Odeh, also known as Abu Amro, a foundational figure in its armed wing who was martyred alongside his wife, three of his children.

In a statement, Hamas eulogized Odeh as a man who “rose steadfast and proud in the fields of struggle and giving, writing a new page of pride and dignity with his pure blood.” He was martyred along with his wife and his children, Yasser, Yahya, and Jamila.

Odeh is considered a member of the first generation of Hamas’s military wing and one of its earliest founders, and worked alongside key historical figures including commander Abu Muadh Al-Namrouti, Abu Khaled Al-Dayf, and Sheikh Salah Shehadeh.

He spent 30 years alongside senior martyrs, outliving many of them. Despite leaving behind what the movement called a “great legacy,” he remained largely unknown to the public. He lived his life of armed activism away from the spotlight. Aside from one well-known image, obtained by zionist forces after the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, he was almost absent from media coverage.

A record of confrontation and leadership

Odeh was known for his bravery. In late 2000, when Palestinian Authority security forces came to arrest Sheikh Salah Shehadrh in the Al-Alami area of the Beit Lahia project, Odeh reportedly opened fire and confronted them.

He rose through the ranks of the military apparatus:

• 2001: Became head of a central department within the military manufacturing branch.
• 2009: Appointed commander of the Al-Khalifah Battalion (Central Camp), a position he held for two years.
• Later roles: Served as deputy commander of the Northern Brigade, head of combat intelligence at the central apparatus level, and from 2015 to 2020, served as commander of the Northern Brigade.

According to Hamas, his period of command oversaw a build-up of military capabilities and an ability to unify technical and specialized efforts. He was described as very close to the commander Mohammad Al-Dayf, who reportedly saw in him “trust, leadership, professionalism, and competence.”

Most Recent Roles and Strategic Influence

From 2020 to early 2022, Odeh served as commander of weapons support and combat services. From 2022, through Operation al-Aqsa Flood, until his martyrdom, he was commander of military intelligence within the armed wing and a member of the movement’s national security system, both internally and externally. He was leading one of the most sensitive files in the organization, Hamas stated.

He formulated strategic intelligence assessments with professionalism and wisdom, relying on specialists and experts. He signed documents submitted to the leadership with the codename “Yasser.”

Senior commanders reportedly viewed him as the future commander of the military wing. However, he was described as having shunned leadership roles, avoiding appointments and top positions on multiple occasions, most recently after Operation al-Aqsa Flood and even following the death of commander Abu Saib Al-Haddad.

Those close to him said Odeh preferred collective, technical, and specialized teamwork, focusing on rapid achievements, particularly in long-term strategic matters.

Below we publish the Hamas statement in full:

Corresponding to: 10 Dhu al-Hijjah 1447 AH

“LIVE BLOG: Gaza Strikes Intensify as Hezbollah Escalates Attacks, Israeli Officer Killed – Day 78”

by Palestine Chronicle Staff

@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@[email protected]
@iran

“Key Developments

- Israeli attacks across Gaza killed and wounded Palestinians, including civilians targeted in Khan Younis, Jabalia, and Gaza City.
- #AlQassam said Palestinian resistance would continue following the assassination of commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad.
- Israeli media reported a #Golani #Brigade platoon commander was killed in southern Lebanon after a drone incident.
- Hezbollah condemned Haddad’s assassination and launched new attacks targeting Israeli military positions and equipment.
- Yoav Gallant admitted Israel failed to achieve any of its strategic objectives against Iran”

https://www.palestinechronicle.com/live-blog-gaza-strikes-intensify-as-hezbollah-escalates-attacks-israeli-officer-killed-day-78/

#Press #SocialMedia #Gaza #PalestinianGenocide #Zionism #SettlerColonialism #Resistance #DismantleZionism #DecolonizePalestine #GlobaliseTheIntifada #Iran #War #Trump #Israel #Lebanon #Hezbollah

‘Ghost of Gaza’: Al-Qassam Confirms Killing of Chief of Staff Ezzeddin al-Haddad

In a statement, Al-Qassam described the killing as a “cowardly assassination” and said the operation constituted a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

The movement added that targeting senior resistance leaders would not alter the course of confrontation.

“The assassination of leaders will only reinforce the Resistance’s determination to continue its path of struggle,” the statement said.

Palestinian resistance sources had earlier confirmed al-Haddad’s death following the strike.

Deadly Strike in Al-Rimal

Al-Haddad was killed after zionist forces struck a residential building in the Al-Rimal neighborhood west of Gaza City on Friday.

The attack caused extensive destruction in a densely populated civilian area.

Local reports said at least eight Palestinians were killed and more than 40 wounded in the strike, while rescue crews struggled to recover victims from beneath the rubble.

The bombardment came amid continued zionist attacks across Gaza despite ongoing ceasefire discussions.

Health authorities said zionist attacks over the previous 24 hours killed 13 Palestinians and wounded 57 others.

According to figures released by Gaza’s Health Ministry, the overall death toll in Gaza since October 2023 has reached 72,757, with 172,645 wounded.

The ‘Ghost of Gaza’

Born in Gaza in 1970, al-Haddad joined Hamas during the movement’s early years in the 1980s and later became one of the most prominent military leaders within Al-Qassam.

He became widely known as the ‘Ghost of Gaza’ because of his secrecy and ability to avoid repeated zionist attempts to locate him.

Zionist occupation forces reportedly attempted to assassinate him six times and offered a reward of $750,000 for information leading to his whereabouts.

Al-Haddad succeeded Mohammad al-Sinwar following his assassination in 2025 and later assumed broader leadership responsibilities within the movement.

Zionist media had increasingly described him as one of the regime’s highest-priority targets following the assassinations of senior Hamas leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Marwan Issa.

Family Recalls Years of Sacrifice

As funeral processions moved through Gaza City on Saturday, family members described a life shaped by imprisonment, resistance activity, and repeated personal loss.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Mubasher, his sister Mahitab al-Haddad said the family received news of his death “with patience and acceptance.”

She said al-Haddad had spent years moving between Israeli prisons and detention by the Palestinian Authority before continuing his role within Al-Qassam.

Mahitab said he had suffered repeated losses during the war, including sons and relatives, yet remained steadfast.

“He remained patient and encouraged others to remain patient,” she said.

Family members also described him as a figure known among Gaza residents for assisting people and remaining committed to family responsibilities despite years of war and pursuit.

Aya al-Haddad, his brother’s wife, described his martyrdom as “an honor for the family,” saying he remained close to relatives and continued helping those around him despite the war.

Funeral Crowds Fill Gaza Streets

Thousands of Palestinians took part in funeral processions across Gaza on Saturday. Crowds chanted slogans supporting Palestinian resistance while carrying al-Haddad’s body through the streets.

Al-Haddad’s killing comes as zionist continues its campaign in Gaza and amid ongoing efforts to secure a broader ceasefire agreement.

Al-Qassam reiterated that assassinations and continued military escalation would not alter its position.

“The path of resistance will continue,” the movement said.

Hamas Releases Statement

“Among the believers are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. Some of them have fulfilled their vow by sacrificing their lives, and others still await, and they have not altered their determination by any means.”

With all feelings of pride and honor, and with hearts filled with pain mixed with faith, submission, patience, and steadfastness, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) mourns to our Palestinian people, our Arab and Islamic nation, and the free people of the world, the great commander and fighter martyr:

Who ascended to his Lord as a martyr on the evening of Friday, 15/05/2026, as a result of a treacherous and cowardly “israeli” assassination crime. It targeted him along with members of his family and a number of safe civilians in the Gaza Strip, which led to his martyrdom along with his wife, Umm Suhaib, his daughter Nour, and a number of innocent citizens, after a path of struggle filled with giving, sacrifice, preparation, and ribat. During this path, he remained steadfast in the fields of confrontation, advancing and never retreating, defending his people, his land, and his sanctities until the last moments.

The martyr commander Abu Suhaib represented an exceptional model of the steadfast, fighting commander who spent his life in the fields of resistance, preparation, and confronting the occupation. He was one of the pillars of the resistance project in the Gaza Strip, a beacon for the fighters, and an impenetrable dam in the face of attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause and break the will of our people. His wise leadership, field directives, and management of the battle of confrontation with the occupation, especially during the Al-Aqsa Flood battle, were a source of inspiration for the heroes of Al-Qassam, and a severe force against the enemy and its army.

The martyr commander Abu Suhaib ascended, after having offered during the Al-Aqsa Flood battle his own beloved children, the fighters Suhaib and Mumin, and his son-in-law, the fighter Mahmoud Abu Hasira, as martyrs on the path of Al-Quds and liberation, to join them as a steadfast, patient, and reckoning martyr, in a scene that embodies the greatness of the sacrifices offered by the resistance leaders and their families for the sake of Palestine and its sanctities.

The crime of assassinating the martyr commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad, and what the occupation continues to commit of crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire agreement came into effect, confirms once again the criminal and fascist nature of this terrorist entity, its disregard for all international laws and charters, and its failed attempts to impose political and field realities it failed to achieve by force, through the policy of killing, terrorism, pressure on the resistance leadership, influencing its political positions, and breaking the will, steadfastness, and tenacity of our people on their land.

The movement confirms that this crime, with all its dimensions and timing, places the international community, and the intermediary and guarantor countries of the agreement in particular, before their political, legal, humanitarian, and moral responsibilities to act immediately and seriously to compel the occupation government to fully adhere to the terms of the agreement and stop its ongoing crimes and aggression against innocent civilians. Furthermore, the continued international silence and failure to exert real pressure on the war criminal Netanyahu, the Hitler of the era who is wanted for international justice, have encouraged the occupation to continue its bloody approach and its ongoing aggression against our people.

The movement also calls on our Palestinian people for more cohesion, unity, and steadfastness, and to thwart all the occupation’s plans aimed at undermining the unity of our people and their resistance. It confirms that our people, who have offered these blessed convoys of martyr leaders, are capable, by the permission of Allah, of continuing the path of liberation until the occupation is expelled and our full national rights are wrested.

The martyr commander Abu Suhaib concluded his blessed journey with martyrdom, to remain a symbol of giving, steadfastness, and loyalty to Palestine, Al-Quds, Al-Aqsa, and the prisoners, and for his biography to remain a school for generations in sacrifice and adherence to rights and constants.

May Allah the Almighty have mercy on the great commander and fighter martyr Izz al-Din al-Haddad, Abu Suhaib, forgive him, grant him the highest Paradise with the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous, and excellent are those as companions.

And it is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.

Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)

Friday, 15/05/2026
Corresponding to: 28 Dhu al-Qi’dah 1447 AH

Resistance Factions Commented on the Assassination

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine described Izz al-Din al-Haddad as the “General Commander” of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, praising him as a central figure in coordinating joint resistance efforts and rebuilding resistance leadership structures during the war. They highlighted his role in directing battlefield operations during the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation and noted that the zionist entity had failed for years to target the “Ghost of al-Qassam.”

Fatah al-Intifada referred to al-Haddad as the commander of the military general staff of the al-Qassam Brigades and emphasized his courage in confronting the zionist military operations and the war in Gaza. They emphasized that the blood of fallen leaders would inspire future generations.

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement and the Mujahideen Brigades emphasized al-Haddad’s long history of armed struggle, framing his death within a religious narrative of sacrifice and martyrdom. They stressed that assassinations after more than a year of war would not defeat the resistance, describing fallen leaders as guiding symbols for the continued struggle.

The National Resistance Brigades (Omar al-Qasim Forces) stated that al-Haddad was martyred alongside his wife, daughter, and other civilians in central Gaza. The statement explicitly described the assassination as a violation of the ceasefire agreement and emphasized national goals, including freedom, the right of return, and independence.

The joint statement by the Palestinian resistance factions emphasized unity among the groups and described al-Haddad’s martyrdom as proof that assassinations cannot defeat the resistance. The factions stressed that every fallen commander strengthens the movement, reaffirmed their commitment to armed struggle, and vowed to continue fighting for the liberation of Palestine, including Al-Quds and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad exalted the martyr Izz al-Din al-Haddad, and condemned the entity’s actions as a violation of the ceasefire and said the assassinations of resistance leaders would only strengthen Palestinian resolve and resistance.

Hamas Dismisses US-Backed Disarmament Plan as ‘Collective Suicide’

Hamas has rejected a US-backed proposal to disarm, describing it as a “trap” that risks igniting internal war in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials who spoke with Middle East Eye (MEE).

The plan was presented earlier this month in Cairo by Gaza Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov, with US officials present, as part of ongoing ceasefire talks that have stalled due to zionist violations and unmet obligations.

Palestinian sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations said Hamas believes the proposal is designed to “ignite civil war in the Gaza Strip and destabilize Palestinian society.”

A Gaza-based source told MEE, “Hamas completely rejects this,” adding that within the Qassam Brigades, disarmament is viewed as “collective suicide.”

The resistance movement argues that surrendering weapons would leave Palestinians exposed, especially as “Israeli-backed armed gangs” continue to operate.

“They know that giving up their weapons is not an option and will not happen,” the source said.

The proposal also includes the removal of around 20,000 civil servants from Gaza’s administrative structure, which Hamas considers unworkable.

“This would be a complete disaster for any society,” the source said, questioning who would replace experienced personnel tasked with running the besieged enclave.

Hamas officials insist that any discussion of disarmament must follow full implementation of the first phase of the ceasefire.

That includes lifting restrictions on humanitarian aid, which the zionist regime has not fulfilled, allowing only a small fraction of the required air to enter the strip.

Talks over the past two weeks have been described as tense, with Mladenov reportedly issuing a 48-hour ultimatum, warning that fighting could resume if Hamas did not respond.

Egypt has urged Hamas to accept the proposal; however, sources indicate that Hamas still insists on firm guarantees that the zionsit regime will fulfill its commitments before any second-phase negotiations move forward.

The eight-month plan presented by the Board of Peace proposes a phased process to disarm Hamas and other resistance factions while transferring governance in Gaza to a technocratic body, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).

The plan is meant to unfold across five stages, ending with a partial zionist withdrawal and reconstruction, but it makes no mention of Palestinian statehood, indicating continued Israeli control.

Hamas official Bassem Naim rejected the proposal, accusing Mladenov of serving zionist and US agendas and warning that linking reconstruction to disarmament “contradicts previous understandings.”

Israel Hayom recently reported that the zionist regime is preparing to resume its genocide on Gaza as the deadline for Hamas disarmament approaches, with Tel Aviv warning it would “complete the mission” if the resistance does not surrender its weapons.

Zionist violations of the ceasefire have continued unabated, with hundreds of Palestinians killed since the agreement took effect and aid deliberately restricted to a fraction of agreed levels, leaving Gaza’s population exposed to famine conditions.

Last week, zionist soldiers killed two UNICEF-contracted truck drivers and injured two others during a routine water delivery operation at Gaza City’s only operational filling point, disrupting critical aid as shortages deepen across the strip.

Since the so-called ceasefire was declared, at least 738 Palestinians have been killed by zionist forces, including at least 214 children and dozens of women.

source: The Cradle

⭕5 morts, dont 3 enfants, suite au bombardement par l'aviation de l'occupant d'un groupe de civils dans la cour de la mosquée #Al-Qassam au projet #Beit-Lahia, au Nord de la bande de #Gaza. #Qudsn

Debunking the Lie That “’Israel’ Created Hamas”

The Palestinian Islamic organization Hamas is both an armed group and a political movement. It is supported by a large proportion of the Palestinian population, primarily due to its leading role in resisting Israel.

Despite its deep roots in Palestinian society, there is a pervasive, false narrative about the origins of Hamas that is widely promoted, particularly in the West – including among some sympathetic to the Palestinian national liberation cause.

That narrative goes like this: Hamas was encouraged or even created by Israel to undermine the secular Palestine Liberation Organization of the late leader Yasser Arafat.

But this narrative is a myth that emerged from both anti-Hamas elements within Palestinian society and by Israeli intelligence.

Among the former is Muhammed Dahlan who – ironically – later worked closely with the Central Intelligence Agency and was instrumental in the failed, US- and Israel-backed coup against the Hamas government that was elected by the population in 2006.

The main claims to this narrative – and a more recent iteration used as a cudgel by opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – fall apart upon closer scrutiny.

Historian Khaled Hroub, a prominent expert on Hamas, explained to The Electronic Intifada why the myth is baseless.

Long and layered history

The narrative that Israel created or supported, whether directly or indirectly, Hamas has a long and layered history.

One of the earliest influential instances of this narrative in the English-language media is a March 1981 report by David K. Shipler for The New York Times.

Shipler quotes Yitzhak Segev, then Israel’s military governor of Gaza, stating that “the Israeli government gave me a budget and the military government gives to the mosques.” Shipler adds, without explicitly attributing these claims to Segev, that these “funds are used for both mosques and religious schools, with the purpose of strengthening a force that runs counter to the pro-PLO leftists.”

In a later edition of his 1986 book Arab and Jew, which won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, Shipler synthesized Segev’s remarks by stating that Segev told him that Israel had “financed the Islamic Movement as a counterweight to the PLO and the communists.” Shipler parenthetically remarks that this funding “helped nourish the seeds of Hamas.”

Since then, the “counterweight” line has been attributed not to Shipler but to Segev, whose position as military governor lent this putative narrative credibility. The misattribution has been made by numerous publications and commentators, including The Intercept and analyst Alon Ben-Meir.

Another early article in the American press that popularized this narrative is a 1992 piece for the Los Angeles Times by Yossi Melman, a longstanding opponent of Netanyahu, titled “Hamas: When a Former Client Becomes an Implacable Enemy.”

This was compounded by Andrew Higgins’ 2009 article for The Wall Street Journal titled “How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas.”

That piece quotes Avner Cohen, an Israeli official responsible for “religious affairs” in Gaza at the time of Hamas’ ascendance, who remarks that “Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation.” Paraphrasing Cohen, Higgins states that Israel “for years tolerated and, in some cases, encouraged” the Islamic Movement in Gaza as a supposed counterweight to the secular Palestine Liberation Organization.

As this article will demonstrate, the actual history is much more complex and the facts do not support the “Israel created Hamas” myth.

Yet the myth proliferated after Hamas’ surprise offensive on 7 October 2023, code-named Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

Mainstream and establishment media have also echoed these claims, including Mark Mazzetti and Ronen Bergman’s widely read December 2023 article for The New York Times titled “‘Buying Quiet’: Inside the Israeli Plan That Propped Up Hamas.” Around the same time, CNN also amplified the related narrative that a Qatari cash pipeline to Hamas-governed Gaza was not only approved but championed by Netanyahu, who, according to CNN, was criticized by some of his coalition partners “for being too soft on Hamas.”

Zionist outlets have used this narrative as a cudgel against Netanyahu, who they claim was overly permissive in his handling of Hamas. Tal Schneider, a political correspondent for The Times of Israel, averred in an op-ed published on 8 October 2023 that Israel’s longstanding policy had “propped up” Hamas, thereby effectively paving the road for Hamas’ operation the previous day.

Josep Borrell, the former European Union foreign policy chief, remarked in 2024: “Yes, Hamas was financed by the government of Israel in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority led by Fatah.”

Not only does Borrell claim that Israel allowed for Qatari funding to Gaza, but he also implies that this amounted to Israel financing Hamas.

This misrepresentation of history is unsubstantiated and misleading.

Political rivalry catalyzed myth

The earliest insinuations of the “Israel created Hamas” myth come from figures close to Israel’s intelligence and military establishment, including Segev and his aforementioned remarks about the Israeli government allocating funds to the mosques during the nascent Islamic Movement’s mosque-building phase.

In his book Hamas: Political Thought and Practice, historian Khaled Hroub notes that Israeli assessments and interpretations concerning the ascendance of Palestinian Islamism were varied and sometimes contradictory. Some viewed the rise of Islamists as an Israeli “plot,” while “others posited that Israeli policy merely ignored the phenomenon; still others asserted that the Israeli stance was absolutely and implacably hostile and aimed to repress the phenomenon.”

But the myth was cemented by Hamas’ rivals in the Palestinian political arena – chiefly Yasser Arafat, the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, whose ideological opposition to Hamas is rooted in the founders of the secular Fatah party’s splitting from the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood (whose existence predates that of the state of Israel) in the 1950s.

In his book, Hroub observes that “the PLO information apparatus wholeheartedly adopted [the Israeli] interpretations and worked to propagate them,” favoring the interpretation declaring “Hamas to be merely a creation of Israel to weaken the PLO.”

Tensions between the PLO, the vanguard of the Palestinian national liberation struggle since the 1960s, and Hamas, which emerged in the late 1980s, rose shortly before the 1991 Madrid Conference that prefigured the Oslo accords signed by Israel and the PLO.

The PLO extended an invitation to Hamas to participate in a preparatory committee aimed at reconstructing the Palestinian National Council, a body representing Palestinians in their homeland and in the diaspora. After Hamas demurred, the PLO’s official organ Filastin al-Thawra instigated “a vituperous campaign … that accused Hamas of deserting the unity of nationalist ranks,” as Hroub describes in his book.

“The PLO’s statements focused on the idea that Hamas had been established to satisfy an Israeli aim, or at least that it had been established with the consent of Israel in order to weaken the PLO,” Hroub states.

During the Madrid Conference, Hamas published a communiqué discrediting the PLO due to what the former characterized as the latter’s capitulation to the occupation.

Tensions increased further after several Palestinian factions – including Islamic, nationalist and left-wing/Marxist organizations – coalesced into a united front opposed to the so-called peace process.

These factions called for a general strike while the Madrid Conference was convened between 28 and 30 October 1991. As Hroub notes in his book, “the success of the strike was remarkable and worrying to the PLO leadership.”

The leadership of Hamas and 10 other factions meanwhile convened at a conference held in Tehran from 22 to 24 October 1991. After Hamas opened an office in the Iranian capital in early 1992, PLO leaders “constantly” accused Hamas of “owing allegiance to a foreign power,” according to Hroub.

In late 1992, Arafat claimed that Hamas received $30 million annually in support from Iran – “an allegation that Hamas denied categorically as being both alarmist and exaggerated,” Hroub observes. The Arab and Western press soon echoed these claims.

Arafat sought to cast aspersions on Hamas, which vehemently opposed negotiations with Israel and Fatah’s abandonment of the Palestinian refugees’ right of return. Given that Hamas also began coordinating with leftist and nationalist factions, Arafat and the Fatah leadership feared that, with Hamas at the helm, the coalitions of factions opposed to the peace negotiations track might become a viable alternative to the PLO.

Over the next several years, Arafat and other Fatah leaders tried to mollify this worry by attempting to cajole Hamas into joining the PLO. When Hamas, which insisted on the PLO implementing significant reforms, rebuffed these efforts, Arafat launched a campaign to delegitimize Hamas.

Arafat claimed in an interview with Dina Nascetti published in the 13 December 2001 edition of the Italian weekly magazine L’Espresso that then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, “with his intransigence,” had “favored the Islamic extremists, whose attacks have given him an excuse to invoke self-defense.”

Incidentally, the author states in the same article that Mossad “takes care of” Arafat’s security when he travels outside the Palestinian territories, with the implication being that Israel would prefer Arafat over more “extreme” Palestinian elements – contradicting Arafat’s claim that Hamas enjoyed preferential treatment.

In the subsequent issue of L’Espresso, Nascetti published a second interview with Arafat in which the Palestinian leader’s remarks were even more pointed. When questioned about Hamas’ “terrorism,” Arafat responded by saying:

“Hamas was formed with Israel’s support. The aim was to create an organization that would antagonize the PLO. It received funding and training from Israel. They continued to benefit from permits and authorizations, while we were denied even the permission to build a tomato factory. [Yitzhak] Rabin himself called it a fatal mistake.”

Although this quotation, or selective portions of it, has since been reproduced far and wide, Arafat’s claim about Hamas having received training from Israel was both unprecedented and wholly unsubstantiated.

It is possible that Arafat had in mind an unsourced claim produced in 1989 by Michal Sela of The Jerusalem Post, which stated that Israel’s “military government believed that their [the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood’s] activity would undermine the power of the PLO and of leftist organizations in Gaza. They even supplied some of their activists with weapons, for their protection.”

However, the actual origins of Hamas bear little resemblance to what was alleged by Arafat.

Heidi Levine SIPA

In 1973, the Islamic Center, known in Arabic as al-Mujamma al-Islami, was founded by the teacher and charismatic religious leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and other figures from the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood who would later become closely associated with Hamas, including Mahmoud al-Zahar, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, Ibrahim Fares al-Yazouri, Abdul Fatah Dukhan, Issa al-Najjar and Salah Shehadeh. The Islamic Center’s focus was providing charity and welfare to refugee camps and poor urban areas neglected by other political parties.

As Shaul Mishal and Avraham Sela recount in their 2000 book The Palestinian Hamas, the number of mosques in Gaza doubled from 77 in 1967 to 150 by 1986 – the period leading up to Hamas’ formation. There were 200 mosques by 1989.

The mosques served as clandestine political sanctuaries safe from Israeli surveillance and as venues where the Islamic Movement could spread its message, build support and gain influence.

This phase occurred in a wider context in which “Islamist parties rose speedily in the political scene,” not only in the Levant but also in the Gulf region and North Africa, Hroub told The Electronic Intifada.

In neighboring Jordan, where political and social dynamics mirror those in Palestine, Hroub added, “Islamists won almost one-third of the seats in the 1989 parliamentarian elections.”

Within this regional change, according to Hroub, Palestinian Islamists shifted their strategy “from re-Islamization of society and focusing on charity and social work to resistance and confrontation against Israel.”

Hroub added that “along with this change of strategy, [the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood] changed their name to Hamas,” emerging as such towards the end of the period during which the Brotherhood was focused on building social institutions; the eruption of the first intifada in Gaza in early December 1987 coincided with Hamas’ formation.

Israeli permits

A key facet of the “Israel created Hamas” myth is rooted in this phase of institution building from which Hamas emerged.

“Two main Islamist hubs are usually mentioned in this context,” according to Hroub: the Islamic Center and the Islamic University of Gaza, founded in 1973 and 1978, respectively.

The fact that Israel issued a permit to the Islamic Center six years after its founding, allowing it to operate above board, seeded the myth that Israel not only consented to the formation of Hamas but encouraged it.

In reality, the Islamic Center’s permit was temporarily rescinded soon after its issuance and only reissued after a lengthy arbitration process.

Additionally, as Mishal and Sela acknowledge, Yassin and his Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood colleagues submitted “repeated requests” for licensing to the Israeli military administration beginning in 1970, but were rejected. Indeed, as the authors write, these rejections were “not least because of [Israel’s] opposition to traditional Islamic elements.”

Meanwhile, the Islamists’ secular rivals and their associations were beholden to the same Israeli colonial authorities, from which they also received permits to operate legally during this period – as was Birzeit University near the West Bank city of Ramallah in 1978.

Useful cudgel

Yet the misleading claim that Hamas readily received permits from a forthcoming Israel has proven enduring and continues to be a useful cudgel wielded by the resistance movement’s opposition.

It has its roots in a 1985 courtyard debate at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) between a young Yahya Sinwar, belonging to the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood’s student activist circle, the Islamic Bloc, and Fatah’s Muhammad Dahlan.

As Nihad al-Sheikh Khalil recounts in his 2011 book The Muslim Brothers Movement in the Gaza Strip (1967–1987), during the years 1984-1986, the student activists of the Islamic Bloc at IUG participated in a number of “discussions and debates” with Fatah students, which “took place spontaneously within the university courtyards.”

Citing an interview with Subhi al-Yazji, currently a professor at IUG, al-Sheikh Khalil conveys that these discussions revolved around the Palestinian cause and armed struggle. “The most notable” such debate, al-Sheikh Khalil writes, was conducted “between Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Dahlan in 1985,” with the conversation focusing “on the exchange of accusations between the two sides [i.e., Fatah and the Islamic Movement].”

During their discussion, Sinwar condemned the Fatah leadership’s “peace overtures” while Dahlan “reproached the Muslim Brothers for not carrying out armed struggle against Israel and for operating the Islamic Association with a permit from the occupation.”

Over the subsequent decades, Dahlan would continue articulating different versions of this claim, including in a November 2015 interview with Al Jazeera in which he said that Hamas “cooperates with Israel” indirectly by securing Gaza’s boundary with Israel.

Ironically, Muhammed Dahlan later began to work directly with the CIA. He collaborated with the US and Israel in an effort to reverse the results of the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in 2006, in which Hamas won a majority of seats, contrary to the expectations of the Palestinian Authority’s Western patrons.

These efforts resulted in a short-lived civil war between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank in 2007. Coup efforts by Fatah were decisively crushed in Gaza with Dahlan forced to flee, but were successful in the West Bank where Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority continues to play a subcontractor role to Israel and prevents new elections from taking place.

False claims about cooperation with Israel quickly snowballed, gaining traction amongst the detractors of the Islamic Movement, and, after it came into being, Hamas.

Following Arafat’s excoriating aforementioned public remarks, the “permits narrative” was strategically instrumentalized by both the Hebrew press and the Shin Bet. As Hroub observes, this served “Israel’s strategy of firmly establishing that its Arab and Palestinian foes are not capable of carrying out any undertaking that may influence events outside Israel’s masterful control.”

Over the following decades, this narrative developed into the received view within much of Western academia, bolstered by political scientist Beverley Milton-Edwards’ influential 1996 book Islamic Politics in Palestine. Linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky also repeated the claim in 2010, saying that “in its early days, Israel supported Hamas as a weapon against the secular PLO.”

This narrative allowed for leaders in Fatah to besmirch Hamas while the former backtracked on the tenets of the 1968 Palestine National Covenant by rescinding armed struggle.

Benign Hamas

A claim related to the “Israel created Hamas” myth argues that, before the first intifada, Yassin and his group were viewed as non-threatening to the occupation and treated as such.

This claim stems from Israel’s arrest of Yassin in 1984 following the discovery of a weapons cache in Gaza. It rests on the perception that the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, which fought against Zionist forces before the conquest of Palestine in 1948, had abandoned armed resistance after the group launched a series of guerrilla raids against Israel from Jordan between 1968-1970 in the wake of the 1967 War and subsequent occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Hroub writes in his history of Hamas that the raids were initiated by the broader Arab leadership and opposed by the Gaza branch, which viewed the idea as “futile.”

In the decade following the raids, the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood focused on recruitment and deferred confrontation with Israel “under the conviction that they were preparing a new generation,” according to Hroub.

Given this retreat from armed resistance during the 1970s, conventional wisdom held that any weapons possessed by Yassin could not have been intended for armed resistance against Israel and were likely intended to be used against Palestinian rivals.

This is, however, at odds with the actual history.

Ahmad Khateib Flash 90/KRT

The earliest signs of an Islamic armed resistance branch emerged in 1980, when the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood’s leadership dispatched some of its members abroad to receive military instruction.

Beginning in the early 1980s, in the wake of the Islamic revolution in Iran and the ascendance of political Islam in the wider region, the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood created several organizations explicitly for the sake of armed resistance. These included a military apparatus named the Islamic Resistance Movement – anticipating the formal name of Hamas – and a subsequent security apparatus, Munathameh al-Jihad wa al-Dawa, abbreviated “Majd,” as well as a secret military committee established in late 1982 and early 1983.

Ahmed Yassin created the aforementioned military branch in the Gaza Strip, initially commanded by Abdulrahman Tamraz and later by Salah Shehadeh, who would eventually become one of the leaders of Hamas’ armed wing. This nascent military wing formed by Yassin was exposed, leading to a crackdown by the Israeli authorities, who arrested Yassin in early 1984.

According to a contemporaneous article in The Jerusalem Post, an English-language Israeli publication, an Israeli military court in Gaza imprisoned a man from Nuseirat refugee camp “for selling weapons to an Islamic underground [sic] charged with plotting to wage ‘a holy war’ on Israel.”

The paper added that five other Gazans, including Yassin, “pleaded guilty to illegal possession of submachine guns, grenades, rifles and pistols” and paraphrased an Israeli military spokesperson asserting that the men “are believed to be the nucleus of religious anti-Israel activity in Gaza.”

This is not the first instance of the occupation persecuting the Islamic Movement prior to Hamas’ formation.

In 1972, the Islamic Movement tried to establish a library in Gaza City’s Al-Abbas Mosque in coordination with the Islamic religious endowments authority, but was rebuffed, as al-Sheikh Khalil details in his 2011 study of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza.

In response, according to al-Sheikh Khalil, Yassin “took it upon himself to build the library.” But during the beginning of its construction, Israeli police destroyed the foundation “so that the building could not be completed.”

Mosque-building turned out to be a slow and iterative process, for “when construction work began, the Israeli police or the occupation army would come and demolish the building, especially if it was in its early stages.”

Israel held a contradictory position toward the Islamic Movement’s mosque-building, sometimes sanctioning construction – such as with Jawrat al-Shams Mosque, the inauguration of which Israel’s military governor attended in September 1973 – and in other cases, impeding it.

The approach appeared to waver based on the individual Israeli colonial official involved, indicating the absence of a coherent government policy regarding the mosques.

Avner Cohen, the aforementioned religious affairs official, “became increasingly suspicious” that the Islamic Movement was using mosques to organize armed resistance against Israel, as Beverley Milton-Edwards and Stephen Ferrel recount in their 2010 book Hamas.

Avner appealed to the Israeli military to outlaw the Islamic Center but was told that banning houses of worship would violate international law, according to journalist Charles Enderlin in his 2009 book Le Grand aveuglement. Cohen’s efforts were not entirely wasted, however, as only three days after he published his 1984 internal report on Gaza’s mosques, the Israeli authorities arrested Yassin.

As Azzam Tamimi recounts in his 2009 book Hamas: The Unwritten Chapters, an Israeli military court declared Yassin “guilty of plotting to destroy the State of Israel and sentenced him to 13 years imprisonment.”

Yassin was released a year later as part of a prisoner exchange in which three Israeli soldiers captured during the 1982 Lebanon War were exchanged for various prisoners held by Israel. Once free, Yassin was barred from engaging with the Islamic Center, but clandestinely, with Saleh Shehadeh, reconstituted the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood’s covert military formation, this time under the banner of the Palestinian Mujahideen, with the purpose of waging armed resistance against Israel in Gaza. Shehadeh organized armed resistance against the Israeli military between 1985 and 1987.

So where did the idea that Yassin and company’s weapons were to be used against fellow Palestinians emerge from?

As Tamimi summarizes in his book, “rumors were circulating in Gaza to the effect that the [Muslim Brotherhood] had been buying weapons in order to use them against their opponents in the other Palestinian factions.”

Having made powerful enemies in rival factions, the rumors regarding the Muslim Brotherhood “found ready credence, owing to the tension that gripped Gaza at the time,” with competition between Fatah and the Muslim Brotherhood playing out in battles over the administration of the Islamic University of Gaza.

“Israel funded Hamas”

The “Israeli created Hamas” myth became more prevalent following 7 October 2023, appended by the novel claim that Netanyahu enabled the Hamas offensive by allowing Qatar to transfer funds to Gaza.

This telling rests on a misrepresentation of the protracted 2018-2019 Great March of Return negotiations between Hamas and Israel, which yielded an Israeli concession to allow Qatar to pay the salaries of civil servants in Gaza, among other measures to ease economic stagnation, to provide humanitarian aid and to repair war-damaged infrastructure, in exchange for Hamas tamping down the intensity of the protests along the Israel-Gaza boundary.

Avigdor Liberman, then Israel’s defense minister, resigned in protest from Netanyahu’s government in November 2018, in part due to his opposition to the Qatari funding. Naftali Bennett, Israel’s education minister at the time, charged that Netanyahu was effectively paying Hamas “protection money” in order to purchase calm.

Mahmoud Khattab APA images

Netanyahu’s political opponents continue to claim that the infusions of funding from Qatar to Gaza enabled the Qassam Brigades to prepare for its 7 October 2023 operation, despite the safeguards in place to ensure that payments were made directly to civil servants and families with eventual Israeli oversight and pledges by Hamas not to touch donor funds.

While Western media reports point to the Qatari infusion of funding into Gaza as an example of funding for Hamas, that money paid for the operation of critical civilian infrastructure and the alleviation of the economic hardship borne by years of Israeli and Western sanctions on the territory.

Funding to relieve the humanitarian situation in Gaza is not the same as funding Hamas, even if it is widely misrepresented as such.

“Qatari aid to the Gaza Strip is fully coordinated with Israel, the UN and the US,” an official from the Gulf state told Reuters in October 2023.

There is no proof to support the claims that the Qatari funds flowed to Hamas – which has other means of financing its military activities – but plenty of contemporaneous documentation of the intended beneficiaries receiving the funding.

Busted myth

It is a fallacy to state that Hamas is a creation of Israel or that Israel encouraged the formation of the group.

“Hamas is the outcome of a deeply rooted organization within the national Palestinian context, whose process of formation evolved over more than half a century,” Khaled Hroub told The Electronic Intifada. It emerged “within a broader regional ideological transformation (the rise of Islamism).”

“To reduce this historical movement and emergence to a reductionist claim that it was created by Israel, is simply nonsense,” Hroub added.

To acknowledge that Israel exploited “the existence of Hamas to further divide the Palestinians and facilitated control over them, is one thing.”

“To claim that Israel invented or created Hamas is totally another, if absurd, thing,” Hroub said.

Israel and its security apparatus may have at times been happy for the myth to persist, viewing it as preferable to accepting “the fact that this organization emerged and became strong against Israel’s will and its omnipresent intelligence.”

By perpetuating the myth, Israel preserves its image of omnipotent superiority and reinforces “the belief, and fear, that everything that happens in Palestine, and perhaps in the region, is foreknown by them,” according to Hroub.

Indeed, the persistence of the myth has facilitated myriad media commentators to readily claim that Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was both known in advance to the Shin Bet and permitted to transpire such that Israel could exploit it as an opportunity to resolve the so-called “Gaza question” and its concomitant demographics problem.

Such claims are the logical endpoint of the “Israel created Hamas” narrative.

Unfortunately, otherwise discerning minds have repeated these myths, with the adage that “Israel funded Hamas” becoming a consensus view, foreclosing the conceptual possibility of the Palestinian resistance’s functioning as an independent political actor with self-sufficiency and agency.

Dispossessing Palestinians of their agency is a major plank in Israel’s psychological warfare campaign.

But the military offensive led by Hamas on 7 October 2023 forever destroyed the myths of Israeli invincibility and omniscience – a reality underscored by Iran’s devastating retaliation against US and Israeli attacks.

Mujamma Haraket is a translator and academic researcher in political philosophy with a specialization in non-state actors, political Islam and the history of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in particular. The author’s scholarly writing has been published in academic forums and in forums like Orinoco Tribune and Liberated Texts.

source: Electronic Intifada

⭕Sous la protection de la police #Israélienne, des bulldozers #Israéliens ont enseveli et rasé de nombreuses tombes à l'intérieur du cimetière #Al-Qassam à #Haïfa occupée. #West-Bank-Notifications

⭕Sous la protection de la police #Israélienne, des bulldozers #Israéliens ont enseveli et rasé de nombreuses tombes à l'intérieur du cimetière #Al-Qassam à #Haïfa occupée. #West-Bank-Notifications

Abu Obeida Warns of Regional Escalation, Calls for Action for al-Aqsa

The spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, Abu Obeida, warned on Sunday that the region is facing a broad military aggression, accusing the zionist occupation of expanding its attacks and spreading destruction across multiple fronts.

Abu Obeida said the ongoing escalation reflects what he described as blatant violations that undermine international norms, adding that the aggression has extended beyond Gaza to Lebanon, Yemen, and even targeted regional states.

He added that the assault on Lebanon came after 14 months of sustained escalation, stressing that the scale of violence reflects a widening confrontation across the region.

Al-Aqsa, prisoners at the center of escalation

Abu Obeida stressed that any harm to al-Aqsa Mosque or Palestinian prisoners “will not pass without response,” calling for mass mobilization in defense of both.

He urged Palestinians in the West Bank, al-Quds, and the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 to move toward al-Aqsa, while also calling for broader demonstrations across the region and globally.

He further called on Palestinians to carry out what he described as “qualitative operations” in defense of detainees, warning against internal divisions and distractions amid what he framed as a critical moment for the region.

Criticism of prisoner policies, ceasefire process

Addressing proposed measures related to Palestinian detainees, Abu Obeida described a potential “execution law” as a “stain of shame,” warning of its implications.

He said that efforts being advanced through mediators are highly dangerous, adding that the Palestinian side has fulfilled its commitments responsibly in order to remove pretexts used by the occupation.

Abu Obeida also called for pressure to ensure the zionist side adheres to the first phase of the ceasefire agreement before moving to subsequent stages, accusing it of obstructing progress and urging the United States to assume responsibility.

Iran, Lebanon, Yemen linked to Gaza

Turning to regional developments, Abu Obeida condemned attacks on Iran, drawing parallels between incidents there and events in Gaza.

He expressed support for Lebanon and its resistance, voicing confidence in Hezbollah, and reiterating calls for increased confrontation with Israeli forces.

He added that actions carried out by Iran, Lebanon, and Yemen are part of a broader continuum linked to the Gaza war, describing them as an extension of Operation al-Aqsa Flood.

Abu Obeida concluded that escalating attacks across the region signal deeper instability, asserting that such strategies will not achieve their intended goals and warning that imposed political outcomes are unlikely to succeed.

https://www.europesays.com/iran/53155/ Israel obstructing Gaza ceasefire, US must be held accountable #AlQassam #CeasefireAgreement #GazaStrip #Israel

Al-Qassam Brigades Spokesman Abu Obeida Applauds IRGC Strikes on zionist Colony

This Zionist Nazi enemy understands nothing but the language of force and retaliation in kind. Making it pay a heavy price is what will compel it to stop its aggression; without that, it will persist in its rampage and continue to single out our Arab and Islamic countries one after another.

The Islamic Republic today represents an advanced line of defense for the entire Islamic nation, and the aggressors will not succeed in breaking the will of the free and the rightful owners of the land. We renew our call to all the peoples of our nation to stand united in the face of our true enemy and to work together for our central causes, foremost among them the liberation of Palestine.

Palestinian Resistance Reaffirms Support for Iran on Quds Day

Palestine factions said the region is witnessing what they termed as an existential war triggered by the leadership of the zionist regime, particularly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

They stressed that his statements amount to a declaration of open aggression against Muslims and argued that this reflects the entity’s broader objective of asserting control and dominance across the region.

The movement called on “the Arab and Islamic nation to unite and maintain cohesion in order to thwart the objectives of this comprehensive aggression, in defense of our land, our holy sites, and the future of our generations.”

It affirmed that commemorating International Quds Day constitutes a victory for the central cause of the nation in Palestine and represents a rejection of the aggression and massacres carried out by the occupying regime and the US.

The movement further noted that the aggression launched by the administration of Donald Trump, “driven by miscalculations and arrogant hostility, has ignited fires across a number of countries in the region in order to protect the Zionist entity and impose its sovereignty, in pursuit of Talmudic myths aimed at destroying our holy sites, plundering our resources, and imposing humiliation and submission on our peoples.”

Below we publish statements from the Resistance:

—

In this context, the Front sends greetings of pride and honor to the march of martyrs, paved with great sacrifices, and to the militant leaders who ascended on the road to Al-Quds and on the support fronts; those who made their lives fuel for the flame of resistance, and solidified with their pure blood the unity of the fronts and destiny, affirming that their sacrifices will remain the beacon that illuminates the path of national liberation.

Quds Day this year comes in light of the escalating, organized zionist-American war of extermination against our people and the peoples of the region, especially in Iran and Lebanon, in a desperate attempt by the zionist enemy, in an American partnership, to implement its expansionist schemes and the project of “greater israel”. The successive developments and the steadfastness of the resistance forces have proven that the choice of confrontation is the real power capable of breaking the zionist and American aggression and thwarting their projects; for the targeting of leaders, the destruction of infrastructure, the siege, starvation, the committing of massacres, and the killing of children will only increase the vibrant resistance forces’ adherence to the path of resistance as the strategic choice to wrest freedom and sovereignty, and expel the occupier from our lands and our region.

The Front also salutes the millions of masses who took to the streets across the world to mark this day in support of Palestine, Al-Quds, and Gaza, and in rejection of the criminal zionist and American war on Iran and Lebanon, affirming the failure of all attempts to isolate the Palestinian cause from its Arab, Islamic, and global depth. It calls for the escalation of popular mobilization and international demonstrations in rejection of the war of extermination and aggression on Iran, Lebanon, and all resistance fronts, and to demand an end to the military and political support for the zionist and American killing machine.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Central Media Department
13-March-2026

On International Quds Day, the nature of the conflict is clearly revealed; as the war and escalation in the region coincide with a dangerous escalation in Palestine, reaching the point of closing the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque to worshippers during the month of Ramadan for the first time since 1967.

What is happening is not isolated events, but rather links in a single project aimed at breaking the will of the peoples of the region and destroying the elements of resistance and steadfastness in the nation, in preparation for imposing realities that serve the illusions of the zionist expansionist project and its alleged myths.

The masses of our Palestinian people and our Islamic nation commemorate International Quds Day, which comes every year on the last Friday of the blessed month of Ramadan, by recalling the status of Palestine and its crown jewel, the city of Al-Quds and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. They remember their duty toward their holy city and the journey site of the honest Messenger, and the necessity of fulfilling their responsibilities in defending them by all means and confronting the schemes of the zionist enemy.

International Quds Day, which this year comes in light of the zionist-American war targeting our region and our peoples, is an opportunity to unify the nation’s efforts and strengthen joint action supporting the steadfastness of the people of Al-Quds, those stationed there, and the defenders of Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa. Defending them, supporting them, and protecting them from the danger of the occupation and its aggression and crimes is a joint responsibility around which the Arab and Islamic nation unites: leaders, governments, peoples, institutions, and organizations.

Al-Quds is not a detail in the equation of politics or a card in the calculations of interests; rather, it is the compass of truth in this nation, and Palestine will remain the standard of justice by which positions are revealed and wills are tested, until the aspirations of our people for liberation and return are achieved.

Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)
Friday: 24 Ramadan 1447 AH
Corresponding to: 13 March 2026 AD

International Al-Quds Day is a luminous and steadfast milestone in the conscience of the nation, and an affirmation of the centrality of the conflict between truth and falsehood.

Today, the masses of our nation observe International Al-Quds Day in light of the continued cowardly zionist-American aggression against our people and the peoples of our nation, especially in Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq, in a clear attempt to break the will of the peoples of the region and subject them to the zionist-American project of hegemony and arrogance.

At the heart of this scene, Al-Quds and Palestine remain the title of the great confrontation, as the zionist occupation continues its crimes against our people, escalates the policy of Judaization and settlement, attempts to erase the Arab and Islamic identity of the holy city, conducts operations of Judaization and open war on all cities and villages of the West Bank, and continues the war of extermination and siege on our people in the Gaza Strip, amidst open American support and blatant international complicity.

International Al-Quds Day, which was launched by the Islamic Republic of Iran decades ago, comes as it fights a direct battle with the forces of global arrogance and evil with all steadfastness and competence, with its leaders and sons offering themselves as martyrs, led by the supreme guide of the Islamic revolution, the martyred Sayyid Ali Khamenei, may Allah have mercy on him.

Al-Quds Day comes today to renew the presence of this cause in the consciousness of the nation, and to confirm that Al-Quds is not the cause of a people or a state, but the cause of an entire nation that transcends borders and geography, and brings together the free people of various nations, far from the sectarian and doctrinal divisions that the enemy of the nation works to fuel and expand.

On this occasion, we in the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement affirm the following:

First: Al-Quds will remain the axis of the conflict and the focus of the attention of the Islamic nation, for it is a blessed Islamic land and a unifying cause for all Muslims, and there is no legitimacy for the zionist occupation on its land, no matter how long it lasts.

Second: While we salute all the blessed efforts based on the activities of this great day, we praise the valor of the Iranian forces and the valor of the honorable Lebanese and Iraqi resistance fighters in confronting the zionist-American aggression.

Third: We confirm that it is the duty of the nation to mobilize its efforts and play the required role in supporting Al-Quds and the Islamic sanctities that are being subjected to a fierce zionist attack, especially the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has been subjected to continuous aggression, siege, and unjust closure for two weeks.

Fourth: Resistance in all its forms will remain the legitimate option for the peoples of the nation in confronting the occupation and aggression, and it is the path to protecting rights and safeguarding dignity in the face of policies of hegemony and surrender.

Fifth: We call on the masses of our nation to rally around its central cause, Palestine, and to work to restore the unity of the nation and close ranks in the face of the zionist danger that targets the entire nation and threatens its present and future.

In conclusion, Al-Quds will remain the title of this stage and the compass of the conflict, and International Al-Quds Day will remain a symbol of the unity of the free people in the nation, and a station for renewing the pledge to continue the path of resistance until the liberation of the land and the sanctities, and the restoration of the nation’s dignity and unity in the face of the zionist project and its aides.

Palestinian Mujahideen Movement
Central Media
Friday, 24 Ramadan 1447 AH
Corresponding to March 13, 2026 AD

We call upon the Arab and Islamic nation, governments and peoples, to cast aside all differences, exercise reason, unite their goals and objectives, and stand in one rank to confront this zionist-American aggression, and work to support the Palestinian people and protect their sanctities and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has become alone, suffering under the mercy of the occupation’s leaders and their settlers, where prayer is prevented, and excavations increase beneath it in preparation for its demolition and the construction of their alleged temple on its ruins.

We extend our fraternal greetings to the Islamic Republic of Iran, its people, leadership, and Supreme Leader, for it is the sponsor and founder of International Quds Day, which has paved its way into the ranks and hearts of the Islamic world and the free people of the world, to confirm to everyone the extent of Muslims’ attachment to their sanctities, their land, and their resources, and that they are capable of protecting and liberating them.

We pay tribute to the martyrs of our Palestinian people, and the martyrs of the Arab and Islamic peoples who ascended on the path to Al-Quds and in support of it, and we salute all the pure hands pressing the trigger to liberate the land of Palestine from this rogue zionist occupation.

It is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.
Palestinian Ahrar Movement
Media Office
13/3/2026

On International Al-Quds Day, we extend our greetings to all the pure martyrs among the leaders of the Resistance Axis, foremost among them the guide and leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the late martyred Sayyed Ali Khamenei, and all the great leaders who ascended in the battles of True Promise and Al-Aqsa Flood, and all the martyrs of our people, our resisting axis, and all the martyrs who ascended while confronting the forces of zionist-American tyranny.

On International Al-Quds Day, we affirm that the zionist-American targeting of the Islamic Republic of Iran comes precisely because of its absolute adoption of the cause of the liberation of Palestine and Al-Quds, and its great and continuous support for the Palestinian resistance.

The criminal targeting of the martyr leader, His Eminence Sayyed Ali Khamenei, came because of his effective and significant role in the awakening of the nation’s people and the unification of all arenas and fronts in order to stand in the face of the zionist criminals and the forces of hegemony and Western colonialism, foremost among them the American devil.

The revolutionary, jihadist path and approach that the Islamic Republic of Iran has committed to in supporting the Palestinian people, their resistance, and all resistance forces opposing the occupation and global arrogance represents a source of pride and dignity for all the people of the nation, the Islamic Republic, and its brave leaders.

In light of the attempts to Judaize the city of Al-Quds and the daily violations and continuous desecration that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque is subjected to, it is the duty of every member of the Arab and Islamic nation to support the destination of our Prophet, peace be upon him. Al-Quds was and will remain the compass of this conflict and its title, the path of the fighters everywhere, and a title for the unity of the struggling nation. Any abandonment or attempt to abandon an inch of Al-Quds is a betrayal of Allah, the Messenger, the religion, the homeland, and the sacrifices of the martyrs throughout history.

On International Al-Quds Day, we renew our full standing and solidarity with the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran, its leadership, and its people, as well as with the brotherly Lebanese people and their resistance, represented by the Islamic Resistance and the brave resisting Hezbollah, as well as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, and we call for further unity and integration at all levels and spheres in order to confront and defeat the zionist-American aggression against Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza.

Popular Resistance Committees in Palestine
Friday, 24 Ramadan 1447 AH, March 13, 2026 AD

The exit of millions of the dear Iranian people today in support of Al-Aqsa, despite the rabid war against them, and the union of the leaders with the masses, is further proof of their principled position supporting Palestine, and that the Islamic Republic, under the leadership of Sayyid Mojtaba Khamenei, will continue on the same path that was charted by the martyr Sayyid Ali Khamenei with his blood.

International Quds Day, which the masses of our Islamic peoples commemorated in support of Palestine, is an opportunity to unite the energies of the nation and correct the compass towards its major issues. For Al-Quds is groaning under the occupation, your Al-Aqsa Mosque is empty of worshipers, and your real enemy is the zionist entity that is lurking for you and expanding the circle of its aggression against our nation day after day.

Iran will be victorious.
Victory to the resistance fighters.
Freedom for the prisoners and detainees.
Glory and immortality to the righteous martyrs.
It is a revolution until victory.

Fatah Al-Intifada Movement – Occupied Palestine
March 13, 2026

What our region is witnessing today is an existential war ignited by the leaders of the usurping zionist entity, headed by the war criminal Netanyahu, who declared with no ambiguity that his entity is waging an open aggression against all Muslims, without exception, in a clear indication of the entity’s goals to impose its control and hegemony over our region and our nation.

The treacherous aggression launched by the foolish Trump administration, driven by miscalculations and hateful arrogance, has ignited fires in many countries of the region to protect the zionist entity and impose its sovereignty, in fulfillment of Talmudic myths that aim to destroy our sanctities, plunder our wealth, and impose humiliation and submission on our peoples. We call upon the entire Arab and Islamic nation to unite and stand together to thwart the goals of this comprehensive aggression, in defense of our land, our sanctities, and the future of our generations. Commemorating International Quds Day is a victory for the nation’s central cause in Palestine and a rejection of the aggression and the massacres of the criminal entity and the American administration.

On this occasion, we extend our greetings to the Islamic Republic of Iran, a dear and proud people, a courageous government, and a towering and steadfast leadership, for its heroic steadfastness in the face of the American-“israeli” aggression. It has presented its leader, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, as a martyr for the sake of the nation’s rise and the deterrence of aggression, in defense of the freedom of its peoples and in support of the Muslims’ sanctities in Palestine.

We also extend our greetings to all the fighters who are waging the most honorable battles against the zionist enemy on all fronts, especially the heroes of the Islamic Resistance in southern Lebanon who are offering their souls as a sacrifice for their land and sanctities.

And it is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement
Friday, 24 Ramadan 1447 AH, March 13, 2026 AD.

Al-Qassam and Axis of Resistance Hail Iran’s Revolution, Support and Remain United Against Imperialism

The spokesperson for the al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, reaffirmed on Wednesday the movement’s full solidarity with Iran, warning that any aggression targeting the Islamic Republic would be considered an attack on the entire Islamic nation and Palestine.

In a statement issued on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Abu Obeida said that the threats and hostilities facing Iran are a direct retaliation against its leadership and people for their unwavering support of the Palestinian resistance.

Such actions, he added, are a criminal assault on the sovereignty of a resisting Islamic state and a form of coercive interference aimed at imposing realities through force.

Confidence in Iran’s military capabilities

Abu Obeida expressed full confidence in the Iranian Armed Forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), highlighting their performance in the True Promise 3 battle in June 2025, during which they “taught the Zionist enemy harsh lessons.”

He said Iran retains the capacity to repel aggression and strike back forcefully in defense of its sovereignty and regional role.

Retaliation for support of Palestine

He stressed that the ongoing threats, economic blockade, and military attacks on Iran are part of a desperate attempt to punish Tehran for its open and consistent support for the Palestinian people.

Abu Obeida praised Iran’s backing of the resistance, especially during Al-Aqsa Flood, which he stressed was a turning point that shattered the Zionist entity’s prestige and thwarted all of its declared objectives.

Abu Obeida concluded by reaffirming that the Axis of Resistance remains unified, and that Iran’s strength reinforces the Palestinian struggle in its ongoing confrontation with the occupation.

Earlier today, top Iranian official Ali Larijani met with the Hamas leadership in Qatar, where he reaffirmed that Iran will always champion the Palestinian cause.

Resistance Organizations Release Statements

We emphasize that the threats facing the Islamic Republic today, and the preceding attacks and siege, are a desperate attempt to seek revenge against its great people and its resistant leadership because of its stance alongside our Palestinian people and its direct and declared support for its valiant resistance; which has been able, thanks to God and then the support of the free people of the nation, to achieve legendary steadfastness in the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle, breaking the prestige of the zionist enemy and thwarting all its declared goals.

Despite all the conspiracies coordinated between America, Western countries, and the zionist entity to encircle and besiege the Islamic Revolution since its victory on February 11, 1979, until this day, with the aim of toppling it and eliminating its liberationist and developmental project, the continued brilliance, consolidation, and development of Iran over forty-seven years represents a blatant witness to the abject failure and clear disappointment of all hostile conspiratorial policies. These policies have revealed the danger of those participating in them, not only to our Arab and Islamic region but to the present and future of peoples across various continents of the world, and have exposed the savage political and aggressive model they adopt to confiscate the right of people to determine the fate of their countries, and to crush their existence and control their lands and homelands.

As the enemies of the Islamic Republic gather today to threaten it, wage war against it, and attempt to isolate it, this collusion actually reveals that Islamic Iran alone constitutes the actual equivalent counterweight to all the countries of the aggressive camp and the parties, entities, and forces involved in it. This alone doubles the confidence of the oppressed in their bet on Iran’s strength, the solidity of its position, and its steadfastness regarding its rights in the field of nuclear enrichment for peaceful purposes, in the field of missiles to defend its sovereignty and people, or in the field of its policy supporting the resistance forces against occupation and hegemony.

Power that is not based on a legitimate right is tyrannical thuggery destined to be exposed and collapse. Meanwhile, a legitimate right supported by power is the fastest way to take root, expand, and establish the model and example that attracts struggling peoples seeking to achieve security, justice, stability, and progress. This is the model and example that the blessed Islamic Republic of Iran provides to humanity today; starting from its commitment to supporting the cause of Palestine and supporting the legitimate rights of its resisting people, to its blatant condemnation of the zionist occupation and its continuous aggressions against Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and the entire Arab region, as well as its condemnation of the genocide committed by the zionist enemy against Gaza and its people, in addition to supporting the Lebanese people and their right to resist the zionist occupation, liberate their land, and protect their security and stability, reaching its courageous positions supporting the right of states to exercise full sovereignty over their land without any arrogant intervention or blackmail in their security and economy, and its permanent standing alongside those with legitimate and just rights against those who plunder their countries and covet domination over their resources.

We in Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon highly appreciate and express our pride in the Islamic Republic and its liberationist model. On the anniversary of its victory, we extend our congratulations and blessings to its leader, His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei (may his shadow endure), to all its officials, and to its dear and courageous people, whose awareness and unity grow in the face of enemies.

“And victory is only from Allah, the Almighty, the Wise.”

Iran today stands tall in the face of the forces of evil; it is the sanctuary for the hearts of all believers and free people across the globe, and particularly the faithful and courageous Palestinian people, who have fought with all bravery for more than two years against the most formidable diabolical forces in the world, supported without limit by the diabolical powers represented by the United States of America. You stand today in confrontation with them without fear and without hesitation. We highly appreciate your standing by our brave and great people, as supporters, backers, and sustainers in all fields.

As we continue our battle against the zionist enemy, we assure you that the banner of resistance will, God willing, remain raised in Palestine, in Lebanon, and in every place until the fall of the zionist project and its removal from our lands.

In concluding my message, I extend to your dear self my congratulations on the arrival of the blessed month of Ramadan. May God make it a blessed month for you and for the Islamic nation. We ask God for your victory, success, and long life, and that He grant you His support and blessings. Indeed, He is capable of all things.

Ziyad al-Nakhala
Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
Saturday, 19 Sha’ban 1447 AH
February 7, 2026 AD

A statement issued by the Resistance Committees in Palestine on the occasion of the 47th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran:

On the 47th anniversary of the victorious Islamic Revolution in Iran, we extend our greetings, congratulations, and sincere blessings to the Iranian people and their struggling leadership, headed by the Guide and Leader of the Revolution, Mr. Ali Khamenei. This revolution changed the course of history, overthrew the regime of tyranny and oppression, and established an independent Islamic state that does not submit to the dominance of arrogant powers and global hegemony.

The Islamic Republic has become a solid regional power that has imposed its position in all arenas and confirmed its presence as a fundamental pillar in regional equations, breaking the arrogance of the Zionist entity and humiliating it in the three operations of Al-Waad Al-Sadiq.

The revolution and the Islamic Republic in Iran have formed a true incubator and support for all oppressed peoples and all resistance movements, as well as a fundamental supporter of the Palestinian cause and resistance.

We stand alongside revolutionary Iran and Islam in facing Zionist-American plots aimed at destabilizing the Islamic Republic, and we salute the great Iranian people who stand with all strength and dignity, refusing to surrender or submit to colonial powers seeking to plunder the nation’s resources and wealth.

We wish for more progress, power, stability, and unity for the Islamic Republic under the leadership of His Eminence Leader Ali Khamenei in facing arrogant powers, enhancing Islamic unity to guarantee a future for our nation.

Resistance Committees in Palestine.
Tuesday 22 Sha’ban 1444 AH, corresponding to February 10, 2026 CE

Abu Obeida: Death, Complete Eradication Await Traitors in Gaza

The Zionist enemy’s collaborators in Gaza will face their death and inevitable elimination at the hands of the Palestinian people’s justice, of which the Israeli occupation will not be able to rescue them, warned Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing.

In a statement released on Monday, Abu Obeida strongly condemned the collaborator’s actions as service to the Zionist enemy and its agendas. “What these infiltrating collaborators are doing to our people and our honorable resistance fighters reflects full alignment with the occupation and direct execution of its schemes. Their role is nothing more than a function of its security apparatus.”

According to Abu Obeida, collaborators act with impunity under Zionist military protection, particularly in areas occupied by its forces.

“These cowards only feign strength under the protection of the Zionist army and its tanks. Their betrayal, targeting civilians and attempting to overpower resistance fighters weakened by siege and starvation, is not valor, but a desperate effort to prove themselves.”

Abu Obeida warned of the inevitable fate awaiting these collaborators, threatening, “A dark fate awaits the traitors, those tracking our heroes and serving as tools of the occupation. Their end is near: death and complete eradication. The enemy will not shield them from the justice of our people, and they will find no grave in our land to accept their filthy remains.”

Salute to heroic Rafah fighters

He concluded with a tribute to the steadfast resistance fighters besieged in Rafah, highlighting their unshakable stance and historic bravery.

“All honor to our heroic fighters trapped and surrounded in the Rafah corridor, those who rejected humiliation and submission, and chose martyrdom over surrender. Their legacy will be taught to generations to come, and their names will be inscribed in the eternal pages of dignity and resistance.”

Hamas previously announced that it had made extensive efforts through various political leaders and mediators, including full engagement with the US administration as one of the guarantors of the agreement, to resolve the issue of the trapped fighters and ensure their safe return home. However, the Zionist regime undermined all these efforts.

It had submitted specific proposals and mechanisms to resolve the fighters’ situation, yet the regime chose the path of violence, killings, and detention, obstructing the mediators’ work aimed at alleviating the suffering of the Resistance’s heroic fighters.

Thereby, Hamas held the occupation fully responsible for the fate of the fighters and called on mediators to take urgent action to pressure the entity to allow their safe return. Hamas’ fighters are a “unique symbol of sacrifice, resilience, heroism, and a representation of the dignity and freedom of the Palestinian people,” the statement concluded.

On “The Guest,” Mohammed al-Deif Abu Khaled’s Decades-Long Resistance Work (Part One)

This article, the first part of a multi-part series that I will be publishing over the subsequent weeks, provides an overview of Mohammed al-Deif’s (known by his kunya, “Abu Khaled”) most formative operations. It seeks to delineate and illuminate how al-Deif’s leadership shaped the Martyr Izz-al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Given al-Deif’s enigmatic presence and disciplined operational security, with him having scarcely been photographed or proffered recorded remarks, this requires plumbing the lesser-known resources.

What immediately follows is a transcript documenting the sole interview al-Deif ever participated in, translated into English for the first time. The interview was conducted with Iyad al-Daoud of Al Jazeera, as part of the 2005 program, In the Guesthouse of the Rifle. The film presented an overview of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), narrated by witness accounts provided by resistance members themselves. On the evening of 9 August 2014, Al Jazeera rebroadcast the film, which had been made shortly after the Zionist occupation’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005. With strict security precautions in place, the director was blindfolded and guided to an area where al-Qassam members were conducting training operations. In addition to al-Deif, al-Daoud also interviewed the prominent military commander, Aḥmad al-Jabari, who was subsequently martyred in an assassination operation that the occupation undertook on 14 November 2012. He also interviewed numerous anonymous combatants. “It is notable that among them were a number of young fighters who, as the narrator notes, were pursuing their university studies. A group known as “al-murābiṭīn” was also documented as they followed the movements of the occupation army as the latter ambulated along its observation positions.

Mohammed al-Deif, the General Commander of the Brigades of the Martyr ʿIzz al-Dīn al-Qassām: We are a people who have been oppressed, wronged, and expelled from our homes. We seek what is our right. What was it like before 1948? There was no Zionist occupation. This occupation arose by a decision from the United Nations, and the League of Nations turned into the organized gang of the United Nations such that it did not realize our right to these lands. As you have all seen, its [international] laws are only applied to the weak, and thus not applied to the Zionist entity.

We have departments for training, scientific and cultural departments; we also have development and educational departments within the military apparatus. And we are thinking of establishing a military court for the Al-Qassam Brigades so that we can mandate and adhere to a system of formal rules.

[…]

Iyad al-Daoud: 1 January 1992 was the official announcement of the formation of the Qassam Brigades, which came into being after an operation that eliminated the rabbi of the Kfar Darom settlement in Gaza. This beginning was preceded by much preparation.

Ahmed al-Jaabari: We set out to resist the occupiers. Of course, we deployed munitions and organized ourselves, and then we began training. I was arrested and tried, spending 13 years in prison—from early 1982 until early 1995.

Mohammed al-Deif: Our work began in a wing called “the Palestinian Mujahideen.” So began our first military action in 1988, and I was imprisoned in 1989 due to my work with the Palestinian Mujahideen.

[…]

Mohammed al-Deif: There is a supreme military council for the battalions, of course, and there are brigades everywhere. The brigades are made up of several battalions, and the battalions are made up of several companies, and the companies are made up of several platoons, and the platoons are made up of several squads, and the squads are made up of individuals.

Ahmed al-Jabari: Within the military apparatus, we also have special training departments and sectors dedicated to scientific research, development, cultural work, and education. There are also plans to establish a military court for the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades so that we can continue the founding journey that was started by our mujahideen brothers who preceded us, led by the founding sheikh, Sheikh Salah Shehada, may God have mercy on him.

Mohammed al-Deif: In 1998, we had two cells, and we moved to the West Bank and crated two cells there as well, such that the entire Gaza Strip and the West Bank had four cells in total, two in the Gaza Strip and two in the West Bank. […] By God, I was moving around these lands from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south to the West Bank, working everywhere in this beloved homeland.

Iyad Al-Daoud: And since then, he has been striking everywhere and never revealing himself. They see his actions, but do not know what he looks like.

Mohammed al-Deif: Initially, our work was against [collaborating] agents, then our work became shooting directly at the [occupation] army and conducting bombing operations. Yahya Ayyash was the one who arranged these. The next stage consisted of martyrdom missions until we reached the stage of the tunnel war and stormed the settlements. We ended up eliminating settlers, border guards, army officers, and intelligence. There were many arrangements that we undertook and all aspects of resistance activity were covered, which precipitated the [occupation’s 2005] withdrawal. When our work turned to the “tunnel war,” it marked a qualitative change, as it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

[…]

Iyad al-Daoud [speaking to Ahmed al-Jabari]: […] Israeli sources say you are the second in charge after Mohammed al-Deif.

Ahmed al-Jabari: Let them say what they want.

Iyad al-Daoud: Sir, this is a place where we love God and his doctrine [of honesty reigns]. What is your official position?

Ahmed al-Jabari: I don’t have a position. I am a mujahid fighting in the way of God Almighty. Wherever there is a field of action in the way of God Almighty, you will find me there, fighting like all the others.

Iyad Al-Daoud: So you do not officially represent Muhammad Al-Deif in the field?

Ahmed Al-Jabari: No, I have the honor of being Mohammed al-Deif’s [de facto] representative in the field, but we do not carry such titles.

Iyad Al-Daoud: Have you carried out operations yourself? And do the soldiers die and receive medals like in the Arab armies?

Ahmed al-Jabari: Of course we are not recipients of medals, nor do we want medals at all. The medal of honor is fighting in the way of Allah. Thanks to Allah, we had the honor of participating, planning, and equipping some of the jihad operations.

Iyad al-Daoud: Sources in the al-Qassam Brigades confirm that they have carried out more than 200 military operations, causing nearly fifty percent of Israeli deaths and injuries in the Gaza Strip since the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000.

Ahmed al-Jaabari: I can tell you that ninety percent of the operations carried out by the Qassam Brigades are unique and distinctive because the Qassam Brigades’ operations room will never launch an operation until all matters related to that operation have been planned and completed.

Mohammed Al-Deif: Planning the operation to storm the Gafara Dasmona settlement took us four to five months, as we had to figure out how to get the weapons in. We used a large gas cylinder, which we cut from the bottom, put explosives inside of, and sealed. Of course, one cylinder wasn’t suitable, so we took three cylinders each time. It was important, when entering [the settlement], the cylinder to be opened and the gas released. So my brother went in and opened it, and the gas was released. We rejected operations that had a ten or five percent success rate. For most operations, we found that the success rate was generally more than seventy or eighty percent.

[…]

Anonymous participant [one of the manufacturing department engineers]: Today we are working on an explosive. This place is not a permanent location for preparing the explosive in its third stage. We can move from it and will modify it as necessary. There is an American model that is identical to this explosive. We studied this model and our manufacturing efforts followed the American model. This explosive poses a great danger to the occupation. As an officer in the [Zionist] Defense Forces admitted, that the bomb possessed by the Qassam Brigades can function at a greater distance than the bombs in the possession of the Zionist Defense Forces. This explosive is considered a special weapon for every member of the Al-Qassam Brigades. By the grace of God, large quantities have been distributed to all members of the Al-Qassam Brigades in the Gaza Strip.

Iyad Al-Daoud: How many bombs are manufactured daily?

Anonymous participant: The work is not measured on a daily basis. We have a certain amount that we manufacture monthly, but we cannot disclose it. Of course, the explosive has undergone significant and continuous stages of development. Several leaders of the mujahideen, officials of the Al-Qassam Brigades, and manufacturing researchers participated in this process, including the mujahid commander, may God protect him, Mohammed al-Deif, commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades, and the martyr “Abu Bilal” Al-Ghoul [viz., Adnan al-Ghoul], as well as the martyred mujahid engineer, Yahya Ayyash. There are many other martyrs, including Yasser Taha and Zahir al-Nassar, who worked on developing this bomb, which was initially just an explosive that functioned with a sulfur stick and was ignited manually. It was not mechanical or as advanced as the explosives we use today.

Iyad Al-Daoud: Given that such local manufacturing proves the creativity of Palestinians in adapting the tools of the conflict, what is most important is the human element and the ability to persevere and give. It reminds us that what is more valuable than the weapon is the person who carries it.

Anonymous participant [a perpetrator of the Barakin al-Ghadab Operation]: I entered the tunnel at 5 a.m. after dawn prayers with my brother from the Suqur al-Fatah faction, and we stayed there until just before sunset. We carried out the bombing at 5:30 p.m., then we went to the tower and eliminated seven occupation soldiers. My colleague in the Fatah Falcons was fortunate enough to be martyred in the way of God, and I remained in the battle for a quarter of an hour, then returned to my mujahideen brothers safe and sound, by the grace of God and His guidance.

[…]

Anonymous participant: I am carrying out this martyrdom operation to please God Almighty and to take revenge on the Zionists, to avenge all our martyrs, our children, our women, and our elders, and to avenge Ahmed Yassin and Al-Rantisi.

Iyad Al-Daoud: Have you written your will?

Participant: Yes.

Iyad Al-Daoud: When did you record it?

Participant: About a year ago, shortly after the assassination of Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Rantisi, may God have mercy on him.

Iyad Al-Daoud: How do you feel now that you have been involved [in resistance activity] for almost a year?

Participant: Death is merely a means to an end, or martyrdom is merely a means to an end, which is to liberate our homeland and lift injustice from humanity.

Mohammed Al-Deif: Life is all about fate. I am married, [and this too] is part of [my] life’s fate. If we want to say that death is simply meaningless, then why would we take security precautions? We move forward and continue, taking into account every security measure, and they [viz., the other resistance fighters who were interviewed] talked a lot about our security precautions in many circumstances. Perhaps you found it difficult to obtain a meeting for this [documentary] because we approach our security very seriously.

[…]

Twelfth participant: The Qassam Brigades are fighting the Zionist tide that kills children, and we, God willing, will eliminate their soldiers, not their children and civilians.

Ahmed al-Jabari: The Jews who came to Palestine were murderers, criminals, rapists, and occupiers. These are the Jews we are fighting. We have no problem with the Jews who live and pray in synagogues in Britain or America. But if they come to Palestine, they are our enemies, and we will fight and eliminate them on Palestinian soil.

Iyad al-Daoud: Is this part of your philosophy—to not take the fight abroad?

Ahmed al-Jabari: Of course, this is the policy of my movement and of the military apparatus.

Mohammed al-Deif: There were no operations against Israeli civilians except in response to the killing of civilians, even though we could have eliminated many. Instead, we undertook targeted operations that were responses. As Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said, ‘Stop killing civilians, and we will stop killing civilians.’

Iyad al-Daoud: Are there clear plans for the West Bank?

Ahmed al-Jaabari: Of course. Speaking about the West Bank without revealing too much, we spare no effort to extend a helping hand to our brothers in the West Bank so that they can achieve liberation, freeing their land just as we liberated Gaza with the help of our mujahideen brothers and their jihad.

Iyad al-Daoud: […] It can be said that the leadership of the Qassam Brigades is seeking by all means to transfer the experience of the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, especially since Al-Deif was a “guest” there and contributed to the establishment of the West Bank resistance apparatus during the early 1990s.

Mohammed al-Deif: The West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the ‘48 territories are all Palestinian land, which means that we must play a role [in freeing it]—this is our duty and obligation. Not only us as Palestinians, but every Muslim in the world has the right and the obligation to fight for the liberation of this land because it is Islamic land [waqf].

Iyad al-Daoud: Despite the difficult beginnings and less than ideal circumstances, the Qassam Brigades derived their legitimacy from their achievements on the ground. It produced hundreds of leaders from among thousands of martyrs and detainees and managed to become a formidable force in all aspects of the conflict, placing it among the world’s major liberation movements and at the top of the blacklist of those wanted for terrorism.

Ahmed al-Jabari: We are a resistance movement. We are a military organization that takes up arms and will keep those arms, and will keep up this cause. We will continue our strategic goal, which is the complete liberation of Palestine. This jihad is ongoing, and this resistance is continuous. It will neither be stopped by ‘fair justice’ nor unjust oppression. We will continue with our actions and security precautions, God willing, until we complete the journey of liberation.[1]

From the Palestinian Mujahideen to Al-Qassam

During the early 1990s, al-Deif remained constantly on the move, with his on-the-ground work extending across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. During these years, al-Deif presided over the Qassam Brigades. He oversaw the kidnapping of occupation soldiers and martyrdom operations throughout Palestine, launched explosives toward Tel Aviv, and placed all of the enemy’s cities and settlements within range of the resistance’s missiles. Al-Deif spent 35 years of his life being hunted by the occupation, constituting the longest pursuit in Palestinian history, and, indeed, in the world. During this time, he succeeded in establishing and building an organized military force with which he spearheaded two Intifadas and fought five wars.

Al-Deif inaugurated his resistance career when he joined the ‘Palestinian Mujahideen’ (al-Mujahidun al-Filastiniyyu), which Sheikh Salah Shehadeh founded and supervised as the first military wing of Hamas. The “Palestinian Mujahideen” recruited the most elite and devoted members of the Islamic movement, who constituted the central elite that would lead the military action in its early stages, such as Yasser al-Nimrouti, Jamil Wadi, and Imad ‘Aql.[2] Mohsen Mohammed Saleh, in “The Beginnings of Hamas’s Military Work and the Emergence of the al-Qassam Brigades,” writes that:

After the formation of “the Palestine Apparatus” in late 1985, which took charge of directing action for Palestine at home and abroad, the leadership decided to “invite all its members in all areas of occupied Palestine to participate in demonstrations and clashes with the occupying enemy and even to call for such action.” In light of this, the leadership in GS [viz., Gaza Strip] unanimously agreed in 1986 to start military action. The military apparatus was rebuilt under the name of the “Palestinian Mujahidun [Freedom fighters],” and Ahmad Yasin returned to lead it in mid-June 1987. On 17/11/1987, the military action was launched. Yasin entrusted Salah Shehadeh to form the military apparatus in northern GS, and ‘Abdul ‘Aziz al-Rantisi in southern GS. Due to al-Rantisi’s administrative detention on 15/1/1988, the leadership of this region was entrusted to Salah Shehadeh who thus became the field commander of the military apparatus in GS.[3]

As I delineate in “The History Behind Hamas’s Intelligence Apparatus and Understanding its Approach to the Abu Shabab Gang and Other Collaborator Networks: On Al-Majd, Al-Mujahidun Al-Filastiniyyun, and Al-Qiwa Al-Tanfîdîyâ”:

Before the Palestine Apparatus’ formulation in early 1985, the Palestinian Mujahidun’s predecessor framework existed within the auspices of a less defined ‘military committee’ that was tethered to the Palestinian Ikhwan; after the Palestine Apparatus was formed in early 1985, this military committee was absorbed within it. When the Palestinian Mujahidun became independent in 1986, it became independent from the Palestine Apparatus. It should be highlighted that, after it was founded, the Palestinian Mujahidun by no means displaced or overtook the organizational structure of the Palestine Apparatus, which was significantly large an organization and a political body, proper; rather, the Palestinian Mujahidun merely outstripped the facet of the Palestine Apparatus that had been involved in outward-facing military operations within Gaza […] The newly coalesced Palestinian Mujahidun (Al-Mujahidoun Al-Filastinyoun) inaugurated its military actions on 17 December 1987, shortly following the beginning of the First Intifada, with Salah Shehadeh forming the Northern Gaza military cell and ‘Abdul ‘Aziz al-Rantisi directed the southern cell. When al-Rantisi was sentenced with an administrative detention term on 15 January 1988, the southern cell’s leadership coalesced under Salah Shehadeh’s directorship, with the latter subsequently serving as the field commander for the entirety of the Palestinian Mujahidun military apparatus in Gaza.[4]

During this period, the organization tasked Mohammed al-Deif with forming a military group in the southern Gaza Strip. Two years after its establishment and clandestine work, the Palestinian Mujahideen suffered a severe blow when the Zionist occupation uncovered Cell 101, which had been responsible for kidnapping two occupation soldiers. After this, the occupation army launched a widespread campaign of arrests, affecting a large number of the organization’s members, including al-Deif, who was sentenced to two years in prison. During this period, he and Salah Shehadeh were deeply affected by the plight of imprisoned Palestinians. They formed a plan to: as soon as al-Deif was released from prison, he would form a cell dedicated to kidnapping occupation soldiers and exchanging them for the release of imprisoned Palestinians (and Hizbu’llah mujahideen).

A few months after his release, al-Deif resumed fighting, this time under the banner of the Al-Qassam Brigades. He joined the first ranks of the new organization that Yasser al-Nimrouti formed in January 1992, and this organization would lead military work throughout the 1990s. During this period, al-Deif established lines of coordination and communication among the organization’s military structures in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. At the end of 1993, al-Deif returned to the Gaza Strip after extremely harsh events unfolded on the ground, including the martyrdom of key members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the dismantling of numerous military cells, the signing of the Oslo Accords, and the beginning of the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip. These developments marked a new phase in al-Deif’s military career, beginning in 1994, when he assumed the position of military commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades in the Gaza Strip. Within a few months, he rebuilt the organization in a more structured manner and maintained coordination with military groups in the West Bank, a process that culminated in the kidnapping of soldier Nachshon Waxman, an operation that marked al-Deif’s first public appearance announcing the kidnapping at the time. The Waxman operation is considered one of the most important kidnappings in the early history of the Al-Qassam Brigades, as it was the first event coordinated between Al-Qassam’s various cells in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Figures ranging from al-Deif and Salah Jadallah from Gaza worked with Yahya Ayyash in the West Bank and Jihad Ya’mur from Jerusalem.[5]

The Zionist entity did not know of al-Deif until the mid-1990s, after the Al-Qassam leadership, headed by al-Deif, made a strategic decision to avenge engineer Yahya Ayyash. In 1996, prisoner Hassan Salama carried out three major operations, and these operations resulted in the deaths of approximately 47 Israelis. Among the violent repercussions was the fall of the Shimon Peres government and the authorities’ implementation of a massive arrest campaign, which led to the liquidation of many organizational and military structures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Al-Deif became the Zionist occupation’s most wanted individual. Yet the security services failed to locate him, despite widespread and massive arrest campaigns that affected most of those who were on the occupation’s wanted list throughout the West Bank and Gaza. The occupation repeatedly tried to pressure him to surrender his weapons and join the security services, which he categorically refused. On one occasion, al-Deif remarked that: “history will record that not everyone surrendered and laid down their arms.”[6] In early 2000, he was arrested by the Preventive Security Service in Gaza City and held for several months before escaping from prison during the Al-Aqsa Intifada with the help of two prison guards.

The Al-Aqsa Intifada was spearheaded by numerous military leaders, some of whom remained outside prison and others who traveled abroad, such as Sheikh Salah Shehadeh, Fawzi Abu al-Qaraʿ, Adnan al-Ghoul, Saad al-Arabid, Muhammad Abu Shamala, and Raed al-Attar.. The most influential figure at that time, al-Deif, oversaw the resistance’s reorganization. Within a few years, they were able to establish an extensive military structure, which became the nucleus of the resistance project. It continued to grow throughout the following years, reaching its peak in the Al-Aqsa Flood.

It is here worth quoting Hassan Kamal’s biography at length, where the author adumbrates several important qualities that al-Deif possessed:

The Al-Qassam Brigades went through significant and complex turning points, some of which had a profound impact on the structure and direction of the brigades, and some of which could have ended their structural and administrative existence, given the extremely difficult security and military situation. This was reflected in the biography of al-Deif, who became the central equation in the history of the Al-Qassam Brigades after 1993. It was represented in three strategic stations that had a major impact on the history of the Palestinian people after the Intifada of Stones [viz., first Intifada], in which al-Deif played a central and sometimes decisive role in the course of events:

The first stage: the signing of the Oslo Accords and its heavy repercussions on the Palestinian people, and the questions it raised at the time, the most important of which were “What should we do? How do we deal with the new reality?” The nationalist and Islamist movements were sharply divided in their responses to this question. The Islamist movement was divided into three positions: the first saw what had happened as a near-total defeat that could not be resisted and thought that it was necessary to see this experiment through to the end. The second position saw the need to confront the Palestinian Authority and the occupation at the same time, considering them as one and the same, and this opinion was very popular among the Islamist base, specifically the fighters among them. The third position clearly distinguished between the Palestinian Authority and the occupation, refusing to consider large sectors that had been fighters and opponents of the occupation a few months earlier to be on the same side

At the same time, he saw the need to continue the jihad and not surrender weapons, a position led by Abu Khaled al-Deif and the groups of the pursued that he leads. During that period, al-Deif focused exclusively on targeting the occupation. He managed to manage relations with figures in the Authority and influence them, as he was keen to forge close ties with many Fatah leaders and security officers, such as Jamal Abu Samhadana, Jihad Abu al-Amareen, Amr Abu Sitta, and others.

The second stage: After the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, a huge and intense debate returned within the Islamic movement and the groups of the pursued on how to deal with the new event. A clear trend emerged among them that what was happening was merely a temporary period that Arafat would take advantage of to improve his negotiating position, and that any real involvement in this situation would mean a repeat of the Oslo scenario and the subsequent violent arrests among the pursued. Some of the older members even adopted this view and refused to get involved in the uprising. The second opinion was the exact opposite, arguing that even if the uprising was supported by Arafat, it was necessary to engage fully in it and develop it in such a way that the defeatist current in power could not divert it from its course. Abu Khaled al-Deif adopted this approach, drawing on his experience after his release from prison in 1991 and his ability, within a limited period, to form a military structure capable of broad involvement in the uprising. At the same time, the challenge of organizing and unifying military structures emerged during the first year of the uprising. In 2001, enormous efforts were made, led by al-Deif and Salah Shehadeh, which resulted in the unification of the military structure into a single entity, which was the core of the large military structure of the brigades.

The third stage: the question of resistance and its relationship with the enemy after Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Hamas entered the elections and won by a large margin. There was real and widespread fear among the Islamic movement’s base that Hamas would be “contained” and gradually distanced from its resistance line. This was completely thwarted by Operation “al-Wahm al-Mutabaddid” in 2006, during which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. Following this, Israel formulated a policy of tightening the blockade on the Gaza Strip, leading to the Wafa al-Ahrar deal, which resulted in the release of a Palestinian political and military elite, some of whom led the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, such as Yahya Sinwar, while others attempted to revive the armed resistance in the West Bank.

Al-Deif was an exceptional figure in the history of Hamas’ military wing and one of the exceptional leaders in the Palestinian jihad movement, due to his moral and psychological qualities, which were reflected in the structure of the military wing and contributed to transforming a set of personal qualities into established traditions in military work. These psychological traits allowed him to have a profound influence on those he dealt with and enabled him to forge relationships that transcended Islamists and had a profound impact even on his fiercest opponents. Three of his fellow captors during his presentence sentence security services belonged to the al-Qassam Brigades. They were the ones who smuggled him out of prison in Gaza. One of them was Yahya Abu Bakra, a leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades

Al-Deif was loyal to his comrades and to all those who contributed to embracing the resistance. It is said that one of the basic conditions he agreed to in order not to clash with the Preventive Security Force that surrounded him in 2000 was not to harm the people of the house that hosted him. Loyalty, in addition to other values, of course, was a fundamental component informing his decision to avenge the death of Yahya Ayyash, whose assassination could not pass without the occupation-enemy paying a clear price.

The second characteristic relates to patience, perseverance, and forbearance. He decided to return to fighting less than a month after his release in 1991—fthe same decision he made after his release from the Authority’s prisons in 2000. Within a few months, al-Deif began leading large groups of fighters in the Gaza Strip.

The third characteristic, extreme organization, was a trait clearly evident in his ability to lead the largest military force in the history of the Palestinian people, developing and accumulating its strength amid a series of major complications on the ground, particularly during the Al-Aqsa Intifada. This included organizational capabilities that enabled him, within a short period of time, to muster and mobilize thousands of fighters during the early years of the intifada. Nevertheless, al-Deif was not merely a commander-in-chief managing a military force of tens of thousands, but was also a key player and practical supervisor of the force’s development, contributing personally to the military manufacturing project that Adnan al-Ghoul and a group of other leaders inaugurating with him.

His fourth characteristic was extreme modesty, detachment from worldly affairs, and a commitment to Islamic education. This was to be found in most of mujahideen, but it was even more so a quality found in the commanders, as the actions of the commanders have always informed that of the soldiers. This became clear after his martyrdom, particularly after seeing the kind of modest life that his family and children lived under. Their condition was like that of others in their community. His wife and family recounted his insistence on having their children memorize the Qur’an and his great interest in memorization projects in Gaza, especially among the jihadist ranks.

The fifth characteristic is the fading of personal concerns and the dissolution of the individual into the spirit of the group. Despite Abu Khaled’s enormous legitimacy in the history of the Islamic movement, he stayed out of the limelight and there is almost nothing written about him during the first 20 years of his jihadist life. He was keen to avoid getting involved in any internal disputes, no matter how small or large, focusing instead on building an institutional force that belonged to the Palestinian people as a whole. The peak of Palestinian creativity was embodied in the Al-Qassam Brigades, which were formed from strong organizational pillars and structures, strongly linked to the idea of resistance. They trained until they were able to fight and confront the occupation, waging the fiercest Palestinian wars despite the martyrdom of their commander-in-chief in the middle of the battle—in addition to the martyrdom of half of the members of the military council.

The martyr Muhammad al-Deif, “Abu Khaled,” remained a source inspiration, exalted by popular referendum and consensus. His leadership was neither an organizational decision nor a a political pursuit led by some members of the Qassam Brigades. Rather, it emerged spontaneously from the heart of Palestinian society, which chants at every martyr’s funeral, at every demonstration, march, and occasion: “Put the sword against the sword… We are the men of Muhammad al-Deif.”[7]

In the next section, I will provide an account of one of the most important and foundational resistance projects conducted by al-Deif.

The Nachshon Waxman Operation

In October 1994, the Qassam Brigades issued a communique following the kidnapping of a Zionist occupation soldier, Nachshon Waxman, that occurred during that same month. The communique demanded the release of more than 150 prisoners affiliated with the fasāʾil of the Alliance of Palestinian Forces, all of whom were serving long-term prison sentences, in exchange for the release of the soldier. In addition to demanding the release of these prisoners—specifically 50 belonging to Hamas, 25 to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, 50 to Fatah, 20 to the PFLP, 10 to the DFLP, 20 to Hizbu’llah, and 15 to the PFLP-GC—Hamas also demanded the release of Sheikh Yassin and all Palestinian female detainees.[8] The occupation, however, did not release any of these detainees.

Specifically, Prime Minister Rabin stated that he would not yield to the kidnappers’ demands, and he also blamed Yasser Arafat for supposedly providing shelter to the kidnappers in the Gaza Strip. The deadline set by the Qassam Brigades was overtaken by the Zionist occupation’s military attempt to rescue him before the deadline expired. Acting on intelligence reports, the occupation’s military planned and launched a rescue mission intended to extract Waxman from the village of Bir Nabala in the West Bank, but the operation unfolded disastrously. When soldiers stormed the building, Waxman was killed by his three Hamas captors during the assault. In the same exchange of gunfire, the captors also killed another soldier, Captain Nir Poraz.

Five days after the unsuccessful rescue attempt to free Waxman, the Qassam Brigades carried out another attack. On 19 October 1994, a Qassam operative boarded a crowded commuter bus in central Tel Aviv while carrying a bag containing twenty kilograms of explosives, and the device detonated as the bus traveled along the city’s main street. The explosion resulted in the death of twenty-one denizens of the Zionist entity, one Dutch national, and the bomber himself; it also injured fifty other people. Following the bombing, Qassam released a videotaped statement declaring that the attack served as revenge for the deaths of the three Qassam activists who had been killed during the Waxman rescue attempt, and the organization identified the attacker as twenty-seven-year-old Salah Abdel Rahim Suwi.

Suwi appeared in the video and declared that “We will continue our brave suicide operations. There are many young men who long to die for the sake of God.” [9] In response to the failed operation, Rabin ordered another crackdown on the movement. He also declared a complete closure of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip while simultaneously pressuring the Palestinian National Authority (viz., PNA also known as “PA”) to take action against wanted Hamas activists located in the Gaza Strip. The PA responded by arresting hundreds of Hamas leaders and activists, while the occupation military targeted the West Bank with additional operations. Arrest campaigns were organized against Hamas and its supporters throughout October and November, and in both Nablus and Hebron, hundreds of individuals were detained during raids conducted on homes, workplaces, and mosques. Throughout this period, however, al-Deif, who was critical in the Waxman operation, eluded capture.

The following is a narrative description of the Waxman operation, collating the extant sources detailing what transpired.[10]

On 3 October 1994, Hassan Jihad Yaghmour traveled to Nablus to be introduced to the Qassam mujahideen whom he had not yet met. When he arrived, Commander Salah Darwazah introduced him to the three men: Hassan Taysir ʿAbd al-Nabi al-Natsheh from Jerusalem; ʿAbd al-Karim Yasin Badr, a veteran of earlier Qassam capture operations who offered observations and recommendations based on his two prior experiences, allowing the group to draw lessons from those operations; and Salah al-Din Hasan Jadallah, known as Abu Muhammad, from the Gaza Strip. The occupation forces had already placed all three men on wanted lists for military activities. Hassan Jihad Yaghmour took responsibility for transporting the three men to a new house in the Bir Nabala area as the occupation forces did not know him at that time. To strengthen their security precautions, Commander Salah Darwazah secured a large cargo vehicle to transport the three wanted men after their passage through Nablus. Hassan Jihad Yaghmour simultaneously drove ahead in his private car to guide them and to secure their route.

After leaving Nablus, the group drove toward Jerusalem and encountered a military checkpoint that had not previously stood at one of the city’s entrances, which surprised them. Soldiers often stopped cars at the checkpoint and conducted thorough searches. Hassan Jihad Yaghmour drove a car with a yellow license plate, indicating that the car was registered to a citizen of “Israel.”

As soon as the car stopped at the checkpoint and the soldier approached it and noticed that it had a yellow license plate, the mujahid Yaghmour greeted him. The soldier then asked the passengers for their personal documents. Within moments, his eyes fell on a cell phone in the car. He asked Yaghmour to use the phone for a moment, and Yaghmour replied, “You are most welcome.” After the soldier used Jihad’s cell phone, he signaled him to pass without checking the personal documents of the three wanted men, thanking him for giving him the opportunity to talk to his family.

After the mujahideen were able to pass through the checkpoint, they set off for the Bir Nabala area. On the way, the mujahideen began to chat, and the mujahid Hassan al-Natsheh told Jihad Yaghmour that he and Badr had been wanted by the enemy since they carried out a shooting operation against a Zionist cargo truck near Jerusalem. They then used their time to discuss the planning of the capture mission they planned to undertake. Only two steps remained in the preparation phase: firstly, the mujahideen’s safe arrival at the designated safe house so that they could familiarize themselves with it, its entrances and exits, and its weak points. The second step was to switch to the car that would be used in the operation.

In the evening, the mujahideen arrived safely at their new hideout and agreed among themselves that Sunday, 9 October 1994, would be the day of the operation. The group began to make preparations, while Jihad Yaghmour went to rent a car from one of the Zionist car rental companies that would be suitable for this mission. Previous operations had been carried out using either stolen cars, private cars belonging to one of the mujahideen, or cars belonging to the employer of one of the mujahideen. In all three cases, the military groups exposed themselves to danger because the owners of the cars were known to the occupation forces. This time, however, the car that would be used in the operation was rented, shielding the resistance fighters from the occupation’s watch.

On the day of the operation, Yaghmour went to King David Street in Western Jerusalem, where several rental companies operated. Yaghmour entered the first company, called Alon, and tried to rent a private car, but failed after the owner of the company asked for his ID card, which meant that he would have to reveal his real name. Jihad left this company and tried to rent from a second company, but failed again for the same reason. However, he finally managed to rent a car from Shakonir, also located on the same street. The car was a red Volkswagen, and the owner did not ask for his ID card. However, he had to deposit $1,000 as a security deposit for the company. With that, the last obstacle had been overcome. After receiving the rented car, he returned at exactly three o’clock in the afternoon that day to Bir Nabala, where he met the mujahideen with his new red car. There, the three mujahideen had prepared themselves and reviewed the plan. Everyone then dressed in the clothes of religious Zionists and put large black hats on their heads.

Mujahid ʿAbd al-Karim Badr carried an Uzi submachine gun and sat next to the driver, Hassan Jihad Yaghmour. Mujahid Hassan al-Natsheh carried a Galil rifle and sat in the rear seat. Mujahid Salah Jadallah, who carried a pistol, also sat in the back. The two in the back would deceive the soldier into thinking that they were passengers like him. Yaghmour had disguised himself in a shirt with the Zionist occupation’s flag on it. Next to him was Badr, dressed as a rabbi and wearing a kippah. Behind them were the other two, who were dressed as Zionist settlers. Natsheh wore a shirt emblazoned with the Zionist entity’s flag and Jadallah wore clerical garb. This time, their destination was downtown, specifically Ramla (and Ben Yehuda). The mujahideen would travel to the Beit Hanina area, and from there they headed to Ramot junction, near the Ben Gurion Airport. As they drove along, their eyes scanned the sides of the road and monitored the parking places and buses. Hebrew music blared from their radio.

At the side of the road, an occupation soldier stood, looking to hitch a ride. Yaghmour slowed down. Badr remarked to his fellow passengers, “We don’t want him, he’s not carrying a weapon!” Yaghmour nevertheless asked the soldier, “Where are you going?” “To a nearby kibbutz, in this direction,” replied the soldier. “I’m sorry, we’re going in the opposite direction,” said Yaghmour, as the car turned around and headed back down the road.

Yaghmour stopped at the intersection leading to Tel Aviv and took a road to the Yehud Industrial Zone. There, he spotted a Subaru parked on the opposite side of the street. An occupation soldier carrying a weapon and a black military bag got out. Yaghmour accelerated and swerved sharply, causing the passengers’ hats and the Torah scroll placed on the dashboard to tilt. He slowed and honked his horn. The soldier raised his hand and waved, signaling that he was looking for a ride.

Yaghmour stopped the car about twenty meters past the soldier, who ran over, his bag bouncing on his back. “Where are you going?” asked Yaghmour, rolling down the window as Orthodox Pop music played from the car’s speakers. The soldier responded, “To Ramla. Are you going there?” Yaghmour answered “yes” and the soldier opened the door. He sat down next to the two passengers.

The soldier tried to talk to one of them, but the passengers neither turned nor responded to him. Thus, the soldier turned his head towards the side window. The car slowed down after entering a traffic jam on the road leading to the airport, and the radio continued to loudly play music. The soldier, who had just left his station in southern Lebanon, placed his rifle on his lap and closed his eyes. His rifle was unloaded. At that time, the occupation authorities prohibited their soldiers from carrying loaded weapons within the borders of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948. They were allowed to carry ammunition, but only separately from their weapon.

The soldier, who had drifted asleep, woke up after the car had passed a traffic jam and was heading towards Jerusalem. The car was flanked by woods on both sides of the road. The young man wearing the Zionist entity’s flag on his chest jumped on the soldier, put his arm around his neck, and shouted: “Allahu Akbar!” The soldier grabbed his rifle while attempting to resist al-Natsheh’s grip.

The soldier quickly tried to insert the magazine into his rifle in order to shoot at the mujahideen, but the mujahid ʿAbd al-Karim Badr, who was sitting next to Yaghmour, pulled the magazine from him after jumping from his seat to the back seat where the capture took place. “Kill him, Salah!” shouted al-Natsheh, squeezing the soldier’s neck with all his might, while his colleague joined him in pinning down their prey, who was trying to point the rifle at one of the young men.

Yaghmour shouted, “Don’t kill him, we want him alive!” Badr jumped and grabbed the pistol strapped to Salah Jadallah’s waist. Using all his might, he then struck the soldier’s head with the butt of his pistol. The soldier was subdued. At the same moment, Badr reached with his other hand and pulled the magazine out of the rifle. When Hassan and Jadallah realized that the danger had been neutralized, they covered his mouth with their hands so he couldn’t scream and stuffed a piece of cloth into it.

The three mujahideen managed to tie his hands and feet, cover his head with a piece of cloth, and place a black bag over his head to cover half of his upper body. They then placed him in the rear of the car (behind the seats). The soldier began to scream and threaten. He then asked the mujahideen to leave him alone and not harm him. They reassured him and tried to calm him down several times, telling him that they would not harm him if he remained silent, and that they did not want to kill him.

The soldier’s cries turned into crying and begging: “Don’t kill me! Please don’t kill me!” His mumbles were audible from behind the cloth muzzling his mouth.

“If you don’t want to die, listen to what I have to say,” said Yaghmour, speaking in clear Hebrew. “We are the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. We have captured you so that we can release our leader Ahmed Yassin and our brothers from your prisons.” “So you don’t want to kill me?” replied the soldier. His panic soon began to fade. “We want you alive. It’s not in our interest to kill you!” replied Yaghmour. Waxman responded, saying “I promise you I won’t make a sound and I won’t do anything. I haven’t attacked any Palestinians and I haven’t worked against the intifada. I serve in the Golani Brigade in southern Lebanon.”

Everyone understood Hebrew except Jadallah, who was from Gaza, so he asked them, “What is he saying?” Badr said, “He wants to wash his hands of our blood, as if the Lebanese are not one of us!” Hassan then asked him, “Where are you from?” “From Jerusalem,” replied the soldier. The young men burst out laughing, “Oh… he’s from our hometown!”

To reassure the soldier, Yaghmour spoke to him in Hebrew throughout the journey. He learned that the captured soldier’s name was Nahshon Waxman and that he lived with his mother in the Ramot area near Jerusalem. He also learned that he had served in southern Lebanon for three months and was planning to travel to Ramla, where his friend lived.

The soldier looked at them with questioning eyes, and the driver said: “Thank God, we made it through the Erez crossing!” The soldier burst into tears: “Please don’t take me to Gaza, don’t take me to Gaza! I beg you… I don’t want to go to hell.”

After a short period of time, the mujahideen arrived at the Jerusalem Road, and from there they drove to the Beit Shemesh junction. They then turned towards the Givat Ze’ev settlement. From there, they continued traveling until they finally reached the Bir Nabala area, where the house they had prepared to hide the captured soldier was located. By then, it was almost 7:30 p.m. After making sure the location was safe and securing the area thoroughly, the mujahideen took Waxman out of the car and brought him into the house, placing him in the bedroom (which was the most secure and fortified room). He remained there until the early hours of the morning. The third phase of the operation was then initiated.

The third phase began when Yaghmour went to a photography shop in the Beit Hanina area to rent a video camera. He then returned to the house where the captured soldier and the three mujahideen were staying. Upon his arrival, Yaghmour spoke calmly to the captured soldier, reassuring him once again that no one would harm him as long as he remained calm and did not try to resist or escape. He then asked him to prepare to deliver a message in front of the camera, in which he was to reassure his family that he was alive and well. In the message, he would demand that his government’s prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, meet the mujahideen’s demands.

Whenever the resistance fighters wanted to remove their masks, they would put the soldier’s mask on their faces and vice versa, so that the soldier would not recognize their features and they would not be pursued by the Zionist intelligence services if the deal went through and the soldier returned to his family. Badr took the video, while the mujahid Salah Jadallah stood behind the soldier, his face wrapped with a keffiyeh, holding the soldier’s weapon and ID card; he read the military statement of the Qassam Brigades, written in Yaghmour’s handwriting. The statement read as follows:

{Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of a believing people.}

Military statement issued by:

Al-Qassam Brigades

The Martyr ʿIzz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades claim responsibility for the capture of the Zionist soldier named Nahshon Mordechai Waxman, ID number 03228629, who is now in our custody alive and provided sustenance and is being treated as a prisoner in accordance with Islamic law. In light of this, we demand the following from the Zionist government:

First: The immediate and swift release of the leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yasin, Sheikh Salah Shahada, Sheikh ʿAbd al-Karim ʿUbayd, and Sheikh Mustafa al-Dirani.

Second: The release of all prisoners belonging to the Martyr ʿIzz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Third: The release of 50 persons from the Hamas movement from among those with high sentences.

50 persons from the Islamic Jihad movement from among those with high sentences.

50 persons from the Palestinian National Liberation Movement Fatah from among those with high sentences.

20 persons from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (George Habash).

10 persons from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

20 persons from Hezbollah.

5 persons from the Popular Front – General Command.

The next day, the cell sent the tape recording of Waxman, along with his military papers, to the mastermind of the operation in Gaza. The man behind the operation, who had remained unknown to them, had recruited them with great perspicacity, selecting them from different areas so that they would not be detected or associated with one another by the occupation. Thus, some were selected from Jerusalem, Hebron and other areas in the West Bank, and Gaza.

Upon receiving the tape, a man appeared who wore a Palestinian keffiyeh and a green shirt. Holding a piece of paper, he read a supplemental recorded statement about the operation to be distributed to the Zionist press:

The Al-Qassam Brigades claim responsibility for the capture of Israeli soldier Nahshon Mordechai [Waxman], and we demand the immediate and swift release of the leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin …

The masked man warned the occupation government that any attempt to manipulate or circumvent the demands would lead to the prisoner’s execution.

When Hebrew media broadcast the clip, the Zionist entity saw, for the first time in its history, Muhammad bin Diab bin Ibrahim al-Masri, better known as “al-Deif.” He presented a list of prisoners whom the occupation authorities were required to release in exchange for Waxman, including 50 prisoners from Hamas, 25 from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, 50 prisoners from Fatah with long sentences, 20 prisoners from the Popular Front, 10 from the Democratic Front, 20 from Hizbu’llah, and all Palestinian female prisoners.

To be continued.

[1] “Hosted by Venice… Al-Qassam Brigades,” Al Jzeera, 10 August 2014; retrieved online (30 January 2026): https://shorturl.at/bR90m

[2] The Qassam Brigades’ own publications, including al-Nimrouti’s biography, refer to him as the first commander of Qassam; see the official Qassam magazine “Al-Mيدان,” issue No. 3.

[3] Mohsen Mohammed Saleh, “Political Analysis: The Beginnings of Hamas’s Military Action and the Emergence of al-Qassam Brigades” (English version), retrieved online (21 September 2025): https://tinyurl.com/4tffmk4j

[4] “The History Behind Hamas’s Intelligence Apparatus and Understanding its Approach to the Abu Shabab Gang and Other Collaborator Networks: On Al-Majd, Al-Mujahidun Al-Filastiniyyun, and Al-Qiwa Al-Tanfîdîyâ,” Substack, 27 September 2025; retrieved online (25 January 2026): https://mujammaharaket.substack.com/p/the-history-behind-hamass-intelligence

[5] Ghassan Du‘ar, Imad ‘Aql, Legend of Jihad and Resistance (London: Filastin al-Muslimah, 1994).

[6] Hassan Kamal, “Biography of the venerable shadow: Muhammed al-Deif,” Metras, 13 February 2025; retrieved online (25 January 2026): https://shorturl.at/HeOey .

[7] Ibid.

[8] Military communique of the Martyr ‘Izzidin al-Qassam Brigades, 11 October 1994; also see Khaled Hroub, Hamas: Political Thought and Practice (Beirut: Institute for Palestine Studies, 2000), p. 123.

[9] Palestine Report, 23 October 1994, p. 1.

[10] What follows is a reconstruction based on the following sources: Ghassan Du‘ar’s Harb al-Ayyam al-Sab‘ah: ’Usud Hamas (Amman: Filastin al-Muslima, 1993); Ghassan Du‘ar, Imad ‘Aql, Legend of Jihad and Resistance (London, Filastin al-Muslimah, 1994); See United Nations General Assembly, Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, 24 March 1995; retrieved online (8 February 2026): https://unispal.un.org/pdfs/D4AB68AAA63D90FC85256219005770C9.pdf ; Hassan Salama, The Buses Are Burning (2022); Abeed al-Qudus al-Hashimi, “The Story of the Cunning Man: Mohammed al-Deif,” Metras, op. cit.

source: Mujamma Haraket

Abu Ubaida💚🇵🇸🍉
His body may be gone, but his words remain, echoing with truth and resistance.
A promise kept. A hero remembered.
Rest in power, voice of the people.
#AbuUbaida #AlQassam #FreePalestine #ResistanceLivesOn #gaza #2026

Who Was Abu Obeida, the Man Who Sowed Fear in the Hearts of Colonizers

Al-mulatham, as he has become known among Arabic speakers, a romanized Arabic word meaning “the masked one”, al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida has become a legendary figure among pro-Palestinians and a source of horror for the Israelis throughout not just this war on Gaza, but any and every operation carried out by the Palestinian Resistance against the Zionist occupation.

“Permission [to fight back] is [hereby] granted to those being fought, for they have been wronged. And indeed, Allah is Most Capable of helping them [prevail],” Al-Hajj 22:39. Those are the first words Abu Obeida uttered publicly during a humble press statement from the Jabalia refugee camp in late September 2004. Though his mask was different, donning a balaclava at the time, Abu Obeida’s voice would resonate with the supporters and opponents of the Palestinian cause alike.

Reports claim that he was 18 at the time of said address, where he was allegedly told to simply read aloud and leave the conference, according to Metras. Though it was merely a few minutes long, the address would change his name forever, making him synonymous with triumph for Palestine and devastation for the Zionist regime.

Israeli faltering in Gaza: A tale as old as time

The statement at the time was highlighting Israeli failures in military operations in northern Gaza, and specifically the refugee camp in the city of Jabalia, in the midst of the battles leading up to the liberation of the Gaza Strip from Israeli occupation. “[The unfolding battles] are the epitome of Israeli military failure, for the enemy possesses a deadly military force, comprising fighter jets, tanks, and missiles, which it is using to bomb civilians and target women and children. Meanwhile, the valiant Resistance, which has none of the aforementioned, is targeting soldiers and occupiers,” Abu Obeida said, noting that the al-Qassam Brigades had killed at least seven Zionist soldiers within three days of battles.

Just like that, Abu Obeida quickly rose to legendary status, admired by supporters of the Resistance against the Israeli occupation across religions, sects, and nationalities. It was not until 2007, however, that he was officially named the spokesperson of the al-Qassam Brigades, a role he assumed one year after announcing the landmark operation in which the Resistance captured Zionist soldier Gilad Shalit, who remained in captivity for more than five years.

The addresses mirror those Abu Obeida would make later on in his career, breaking the news of Zionist losses and failures in Gaza through his fiery addresses that touched the heart of every listener, regardless of the language barrier.

The morale of the Resistance

With each round of confrontations, with each war waged on Gaza, Abu Obeida rose more and more in prominence, with people from all walks of life waiting for his threatening yet reassuring eyes, veiled with a red koufiyyeh, to deliver news desired by the public, dreaded by the Israelis.

Throughout the years, Abu Obeida gained a wider and wider regional as well as international attention, especially during 2008’s Battle of al-Furqan, which saw the Zionist occupation launching an onslaught on Gaza a mere three years after its liberation. While communication lines were massively disrupted, Abu Obeida still appeared as a consistent figure, offering the public updates, making threats against the Israeli occupation, and announcing Israeli losses while reassuring supporters that the Resistance forces remained intact.

He offered morale not only to spectators outside of Gaza, but also to the people of Gaza themselves, appearing as a beacon of optimism in the midst of heavy bombardment that indiscriminately claimed the lives of thousands of Palestinians. Defiantly, during the war, Abu Obeida once declared, “Gilad Shalit misses you” in reference to the Israelis as he underlined that the Israeli regime was concealing casualties and losses caused by Resistance operations targeting the occupied Palestinian territories.

Later on, between 2010 and 2014, Abu Obeida received more screen time, and with each public appearance, his popularity grew exponentially. He was a champion of rejecting ‘peace’ talks with the Zionist occupation, framing them as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause and warning against the Israeli plans to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, which, in turn, gave al-Qassam more impetus as the guarantors of Palestine and its ultimate liberation.

In 2014, during the Battle of the Withered Grain, Abu Obeida once more made an announcement as momentous as his announcement years earlier, declaring that al-Qassam had captured yet another Zionist soldier, this time from al-Shujaiyya, a stronghold of Palestinian resilience. Oron Shaul had been captured by Hamas on July 21. Days later, on August 1, al-Qassam captured Hadar Goldin near Rafah. Shaul would not return until 2025, when the Israeli occupation forces retrieved his remains during their latest invasion of Gaza.

He was also just as important in 2020, laying the groundwork for 2021’s Battle of Seif al-Quds by stressing that Israeli plans to further occupy the West Bank served as a “declaration of war”. In May of 2021, during said battle, he was the one to break the news that bloomed glee in the hearts of the supporters of the Palestinian cause, announcing that the Resistance’s rockets were hitting all major occupied Palestinian cities, stressing that such operations had become “easier than drinking water” for Hamas. He also later proclaimed that the battle saw the Resistance achieve a victory in the face of the Zionist occupation, painting the latter as a “fragile enemy”.

The man who unleashed the flood

Because he is a military spokesperson, it is not likely that he played a role in carrying out October 7’s Operation al-Aqsa Flood. However, Abu Obeida valiantly defended the people of Gaza, declaring that any attacks targeting civilians would be met with a proportionate response against the Zionist occupation, offering one ultimatum after another in a bid to lighten the blows being dealt to Palestinian civilians amid the unfolding genocide.

Week after week, month after month, Abu Obeida, visibly losing weight due to the ongoing famine in Gaza, remained a guarantor of morale for the Palestinian and Arab people alike, with even children awaiting his televised appearances and donning military fatigues similar to his and raising their index finger just like him, impersonating him in praise as he became an idol to many.

Due to his anonymity, safeguarded by the symbolic koufiyyeh for over two decades, Abu Obeida transcended his mere person, becoming a movement of his own and driving the message of a collective struggle, essentially becoming a cultural-political symbol embodying liberation.

Throughout the years, Abu Obeida maintained the same tone and cadence when speaking, allowing him to become a trademark of defiance in his own right, as he employed a stern language plentiful in literary and Quranic vocabulary, laced with a martial language that caused fear to reverberate through the hearts of the enemies of liberation.

Abu Obeida, just like liberation, became inevitable, and the hope he gave to tens of millions around the world is unmatched, becoming as synonymous with the Palestinian struggle as the koufityeh, the renowned upside-down red arrow, and the AK-47. He was incredibly skilled and was proficient at framing the deafening blows dealt to the Zionist regime.

The man who changed the media

Abu Obeida earned the title “the media commander”, and rightfully so, as he professionally conveyed the proper narrative to ensure that the Resistance’s victory could be seen before all, no matter the outcome.

The masked, shadowy figure, despite his identity remaining concealed, has become one of the most easily recognizable people on the planet due to his addresses that uplifted a people watching their brethren get genocided, as he served as a weapon in the face of the Zionist occupation, more dangerous than any arms in Hamas’ arsenal.

The man who finished all of his remarkable statements with, “It is a struggle [ending in] triumph or martyrdom,” attained the highest honor Man possibly could, achieving the martyrdom he had long desired and worked his entire life toward as he tirelessly ensured that the Resistance’s message and actions made their rounds around the globe and sparking an unmatched pro-Palestinian effort all over the world through his nimble, well-crafted statements that ensured that no matter what the occupation did, it was framed as a defeat for the occupier.

While his birthdate is yet to be discovered, the resilient fighter’s date of martyrdom will be etched in history as August 30, 2025, after he spent his entire adult life making sacrifices for the sake of the Resistance and the cause that shaped his entire identity and that of his homeland.

Al-Qassam Brigades Announce Martyrdom of Senior Commanders

The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas,  announced in a live address the martyrdom of several senior resistance leaders.

The address, broadcast via al-Qassam’s official Telegram channel, was delivered by the newly appointed spokesperson who now also bears the nom de guerre Abu Ubaida. The continuation of the name was presented as a clear message that the resistance maintains its course, affirming its position as a solid, well-established institution with deep roots.

Opening the address, the new spokesperson extended greetings to Gaza, its land, water, sky, and steadfast people; saluting its resistance fighters, families, and martyrs. He paid tribute to those enduring displacement, destruction, and siege, stating that their faith remains stronger than any weapon wielded by enemies or conspirators.

With utmost pride and honor, the Brigades announced the martyrdom of a group of their most distinguished leaders:

• Mohammed Sinwar (Abu Ibrahim), Chief of Staff of Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades
• Mohammed Shabana (Abu Anas), Commander of the Rafah Brigade
• Hikmat Issa (Abu Omar), a commander known for his resistance activity in Lebanon and Syria before settling in Gaza
• Raed Saad (Abu Muadh), the head of the manufacturing division and former head of operations

The statement also confirmed the martyrdom of Abu Ubaida, the long-time spokesperson of the Brigades, revealing his identity as Hudhayfa Samir Abdullah al-Kahlout (Abu Ibrahim). He was remembered as “the resounding voice of the nation, the pulse of Palestine and its people,” and a figure whose masked presence had become a symbol for millions.

The Brigades emphasized that Abu Ubaida played a pivotal role in relaying the voice of the resistance to the world, particularly during the Al-Aqsa Flood operation. His martyrdom, the spokesperson affirmed, marks not an end but a continuation of the struggle.

Messages from the new spokesperson

In his first address, the new spokesperson of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, characterized October 7 as “a thunderous eruption in the face of injustice, oppression, and siege.” He reaffirmed that the resistance had fulfilled its duties toward the Palestinian people, despite the brutal aggression and countless violations.

He called upon international actors to shift their focus toward disarming the Zionist regime of its lethal arsenal rather than going after the rifles of the Palestinian resistance. A call was also issued to the Arab and Islamic Ummah: “Aid Gaza, which continues to endure immense suffering. It is your duty to relieve its pain.”

Warning of the consequences of silence, he stated that “those who remain silent about the oppression of their Arab and Muslim brethren must expect to face the same violation and aggression.”

He also warned that the so-called “Greater Israel” project was expanding daily, citing the continuous aggression on Lebanon and Syria as further evidence.

A salute was extended to the Syrian people, who confronted Zionist aggression despite being left alone. The spokesperson declared that the occupation, once emboldened, had now been humiliated in Gaza. “The autumn of the occupation has begun,” he said, asserting that the curse of the eighth decade now shadows the occupier.

He added that the blood of women, children, and the innocent would haunt the occupation until it is rejected by all of creation, and that the occupation’s descent after its corruption and arrogance signals the approach of its final defeat.

Addressing the people of Gaza, the statement reaffirmed loyalty to their sacrifices: “We are your sons, and we are proud. We bow in reverence before you and vow to remain faithful.”

This morning Gaza's Government, Hamas, confirmed that the spokesperson of the Al Qassams Brigade Abu Obaida died in an IOF assignation along with his wife and children back in August.

Abu Obaida, aka Huthaifa Samir al-Kahlout, has been a staple of Palestinian media personalities and was a key communicator of the armed Palestinian resistance for 20yrs.

Rest in Power
Abu Obaida

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Obaida

#AbuObaida #Palestine #Gaza #Hamas #alQassam #FreePalestine #FreeGaza #Israel #GazaGenocide

Hamas Releases: Our Narrative: Al-Aqsa Flood — Two Years of Steadfastness and Resolve for Liberation

Hamas announced on Wednesday the release of its second narrative on Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood,” published in both Arabic and English.

Entitled “Our Narrative: Al-Aqsa Flood—Two Years of Steadfastness and Resolve for Liberation”, the publication outlines the Movement’s political and historical perspective on the events during and after the October 7, 2023 cross-border revolutionary operation.

Hamas stated that “Al-Aqsa Flood was not merely a military operation but the birth of liberated awareness and a renewed will for freedom, untouched by deception or distortion,” affirming that the subsequent war and genocide failed to break the Palestinian people or erase their memory.

The Movement stressed that the creation of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, along with the return of refugees, “is not a dream but a right guaranteed by international conventions and a historical and political entitlement.”

The narrative consists of eight chapters. The first examines the motives and circumstances behind the operation, while the second, titled “The Day of Glorious Crossing”, presents Hamas’s position on the October 7th events.

The third chapter calls for investigation into the October 7th events to uncover the truth, while the fourth describes the zionist regime’s genocidal war on Gaza. The fifth discusses Hamas’s efforts to stop zionist aggression and addresses the Trump plan.

The sixth chapter highlights the “Achievements of Al-Aqsa Flood.” The seventh explains why “Hamas Cannot Be Isolated,” and the eighth outlines the “Priorities of the Next Stage” both politically and militarily.

The release of this narrative comes amid continued zionist violations of the ceasefire, debates over the future of resistance weapons, and Hamas’s role in the Palestinian political landscape.

Below we link the full text:

OurNarrative

On the 38th Anniversary of the Launch: Al-Aqsa Flood is a Firm Milestone in the Struggle of Our People — Hamas

The 38th anniversary of the launch of the Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas comes more than two years after a savage aggression and a war of extermination, starvation, and destruction—unprecedented in history—against more than two million besieged people in the Gaza Strip, alongside systematic crimes against our people in the West Bank and occupied Al-Quds, and plans aimed at annexing land, expanding settlements, and Judaizing Al-Aqsa Mosque. Over these two years, our great people, united with their valiant resistance, have confronted this brutal aggression with steadfast will, legendary resilience, and a heroic epic rarely seen in modern history.

On the 38th anniversary of our blessed launch, we in the Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas pray for mercy upon the souls of the founding leaders, foremost among them the martyred Imam Ahmed Yassin; upon the souls of the great martyred leaders of the Al-Aqsa Flood, Haniyeh, Sinwar, Al-Arouri, and Al-Deif, and their fellow martyrs in the movement’s leadership, who were at the heart of this heroic battle, shoulder to shoulder with the sons and daughters of our people. We also pray for mercy upon the convoys of martyrs from our people in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Al-Quds, the territories occupied in 1948, the refugee camps and the diaspora, and all the martyrs of our nation whose blood has mingled with that of our people.

We stand with pride and honor before the steadfastness, courage, sacrifices, and perseverance of our great people in all arenas—foremost among them our people in Gaza, the land of dignity, defiance, and pride—who strove, endured, and stood guard in defense of the land and the holy sites on behalf of the entire nation; likewise in the West Bank, Al-Quds, the lands occupied in 1948, and in refugee camps and the diaspora. We ask Allah Almighty for a swift recovery for the wounded and the sick, and for near freedom for the prisoners, detainees, and abductees in the prisons of the zionist enemy.

We affirm the following:

First: The Al-Aqsa Flood was a towering milestone in our people’s march toward freedom and independence, and it will remain a firm landmark marking a true beginning for driving out the occupation and ending its presence on our land.

Second: Over two full years of aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip, the occupation has achieved nothing but the criminal targeting of unarmed civilians and civilian life. With all its barbaric war machine, fascist army, and American support, it has failed to achieve its aggressive objectives.

Third: The movement has adhered to all the provisions of the ceasefire agreement, while the occupation continues to violate the agreement daily, fabricating flimsy pretexts to evade its obligations. Accordingly, we reaffirm the following:

1. We demand that the mediators and the U.S. administration pressure the occupation and compel its fascist government to implement the agreement’s provisions, and condemn its ongoing, systematic violations.

2. We demand that the U.S. administration honor its declared commitments to the ceasefire framework, pressure the occupation to respect the ceasefire, halt its violations and assaults against our people, open the crossings—especially the Rafah crossing in both directions—and intensify the entry of aid.

3. We categorically reject all forms of trusteeship or mandate over the Gaza Strip or any inch of our occupied land, and warn against acquiescing to attempts at displacement and the re-engineering of the Strip according to the enemy’s plans. We affirm that our people alone decide who governs them; they are capable of managing their own affairs and possess the legitimate right to defend themselves, liberate their land, and establish their fully sovereign independent state with Al-Quds as its capital.

4. We call upon our Arab and Islamic nation—leaders and governments, peoples and organizations—to act urgently and mobilize all efforts and capabilities to pressure the occupation to halt its aggression, open the crossings, allow the entry of aid, immediately implement relief, shelter, and reconstruction plans, and provide the requirements of normal humanitarian life for more than two million Palestinians.

5. The crimes of the zionist enemy over two years of extermination and starvation in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and occupied Al-Quds are systematic and well-documented crimes that will not lapse with time. The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court must continue to pursue the occupation and its criminal leaders, prosecute them, and prevent their impunity.

Fourth: Since its inception, the movement has remained—and will remain—steadfast in its principles, faithful to the blood and sacrifices of its people and prisoners, preserving its values and identity, and embracing and defending the aspirations of our people in all arenas of the homeland and in refugee camps and the diaspora, until liberation and return.

Fifth: Occupied Al-Quds and the captive Al-Aqsa Mosque will remain the central symbols of the struggle with the zionist entity. The occupation has neither legitimacy nor sovereignty over them. Judaization and settlement plans will not succeed in erasing their features. Al-Quds will remain the eternal capital of Palestine, and Al-Aqsa Mosque will remain purely Islamic.

Sixth: The crimes of the fascist occupation government against our people’s prisoners and detainees in its prisons constitute a sadistic approach and a systematic policy of revenge that has turned prisons into arenas of direct killing to liquidate them. We affirm that the liberation of our prisoners will remain at the top of our national priorities, denounce the international silence regarding their just cause, and call on the international community and human rights institutions to pressure the occupation to stop its crimes against them.

Seventh: Our inalienable national rights—foremost among them our people’s right to resist in all forms—are legitimate rights under international law and humanitarian norms, and cannot be relinquished or compromised.

Eighth: Achieving national unity and mobilizing to build a national consensus to reorder the Palestinian house according to a unified resistance strategy is the only way to confront the plans of the occupation and its supporters aimed at liquidating our national cause and preventing the establishment of our independent state with Al-Quds as its capital.

Ninth: The war of extermination and starvation perpetrated by the occupation against our people over two years—along with the accompanying horrific crimes and grave violations of the sovereignty of Arab and Islamic states—has revealed a rogue entity that now poses a real threat to the security and stability of our nation and to international peace and security. This requires international action to rein it in, stop its terrorism, isolate it, and end its occupation.

Tenth: We highly value and appreciate the efforts and sacrifices of all resistance forces and the free people of our nation and the world who have supported our people and our resistance. We call for unifying the efforts and capabilities of the nation in all fields to support our people and their resistance by all means, and to direct the compass toward the liberation of Palestine and the end of the occupation.

Eleventh: We commend the global popular movement in solidarity with our people and appreciate all official and popular positions supporting our just cause.

We call for escalating global action against the occupation and its criminal practices against our people and land, and for strengthening all forms of solidarity with our just cause and our legitimate rights to freedom and independence.

Mercy to the martyrs, healing to the wounded, and freedom for the prisoners and detainees.

It is indeed a jihad of victory or martyrdom.

Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas

Sunday: 23 Jumada al-Akhirah 1447 AH
Corresponding to: 14 December 2025

https://abolitionmedia.noblogs.org/?p=25636

#alAqsaFlood #alQassam #gaza #guerrilla #hamas #palestine #resistance

⭕ #Ben-Gvir a trouvé un nouvel ennemi à affronter : 𝐮𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞̀𝐬 𝐝’𝐮𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐞̀𝐜𝐥𝐞. À #Haïfa occupée, il a fait retirer la tente de garde du cimetière où repose #𝐈𝐳𝐳_A𝐝-𝐃𝐢𝐧_A𝐥-𝐐𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐦, puis a filmé une vidéo #TikTok où il menace de déplacer la tombe, qualifiant #Al-Qassam de « terroriste ».

En réalité, ce qui dérange #Ben-Gvir n’est pas #Al-Qassam… 𝐜’𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐥’𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐞̂𝐦𝐞 𝐝’𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞 𝐫𝐞́𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢 𝐥𝐮𝐢 𝐞́𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞, 𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐪𝐮’𝐢𝐥 𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐢 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢 𝐫𝐞́𝐞́𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝕋o𝕄y 𝕃e 𝕄a𝕘n𝕚f𝕚q𝕦e

#𝐀𝐥-𝐐𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐦 𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐞𝐧 𝟏𝟗𝟑𝟓, 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐞́𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞 𝐥’𝐄́𝐭𝐚𝐭 #I𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞́𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧. Il combattait les forces #Britanniques, pas #Israël. Mais pour un ministre en quête de voix, rien ne semble trop grotesque : même instrumentaliser un mort anticolonial pour agiter sa base électorale de suprémacistes.

4– Le 26 novembre, les Brigades #Al-Qassam ont publié : « #Rafah… le mot reddition n’existe pas dans notre dictionnaire. » 5– Une vidéo : un hélicoptère de l'armée #Israélienne transfère des blessés de #Rafah à l'hôpital #Beilinson de #Petah-Tikva.

⭕Ce soir, les Brigades #Al-Qassam (Hamas) et les Brigades #Al-Quds (Jihad islamique) ont remis le corps d'un prisonnier #Israélien à la #Croix-Rouge dans le cadre de l'accord de cessez-le-feu à #Gaza.

⭕Ce soir, les Brigades #Al-Qassam (Hamas) et les Brigades #Al-Quds (Jihad islamique) ont remis le corps d'un prisonnier #Israélien à la #Croix-Rouge dans le cadre de l'accord de cessez-le-feu à #Gaza.

⭕️Au cœur du camp de #Jabalia, les brigades #Al-Qassam, la #Croix-Rouge et le comité #Egyptien supervisaient une opération de recherche du corps d'un prisonnier #Israélien,

https://www.europesays.com/ro/39586/ Hamas anunță că teroriștii ascunși în Rafah nu se vor preda #AlQassam #BreakingNews #BreakingNews #CeleMaiPopulareSubiecte #FâşiaGaza #FeaturedNews #FeaturedNews #hamas #Headlines #Internațional #LatestNews #LatestNews #MembriiHamas #News #Rafah #RO #Română #Romania #Romanian #SteveWitkoff #Știri #Titluri #TopStories #TopStories #World #WorldNews #WorldNews

Dans une interview du 19 octobre sur #Kol_BaRama, #Zvika_Mor 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐭 #A𝐥-𝐐𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐦 #𝐈𝐳𝐳𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐞_A𝐥-𝐇𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞́𝐠𝐞́ 𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐬, veillant personnellement à son bien-être, citant 𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐫 𝐥’𝐞́𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞́ 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐞 entre ravisseur et prisonnier. Et ce n’est pas la seule source.

⭕Brigades #Al-Qassam

⭕Les Brigades #Al-Qassam ont annoncé avoir extrait le corps d'un des captifs #Israéliens aujourd'hui lors d'opérations de recherche dans un tunnel dans le Sud de #Gaza.

⭕️Les Brigades #Al-Qassam du #Hamas remettent le corps d'un prisonnier #Israélien à la #Croix-Rouge à #Gaza dans le cadre de l'accord d'échange de prisonniers.

⭕Des jeunes #Japonais marchent dans les rues de #Tokyo, vêtus de l'uniforme des Brigades #Al-Qassam.

Mais les Brigades #Al-Qassam ont déclaré qu'elles avaient déjà remis tous les corps qu'elles pouvaient atteindre et que récupérer le reste nécessitait des outils avancés et des opérations à grande échelle.

⭕Des images montrent des membres des Brigades #Al-Qassam en train de creuser à #Khan_Younès, dans le Sud de la bande de #Gaza, à la recherche des corps d’otages #Israéliens.

⭕En mai 2024, un soldat #Israélien a été kidnappé dans un tunnel par les Brigades #Al-Qassam dans le camp de #Jabalya. À l’époque, #Tsahal avait nié qu’il appartenait à son armée. Son corps vient tout juste d’être restitué à #Israël.

⭕Les Brigades #Al-Qassam ont remis les corps de prisonniers #Israéliens à la #Croix-Rouge dans la ville de #Gaza.

⭕Déclaration des Brigades #Al-Qassam : "Ce qui a été conclu comme accord est le fruit de la résilience de notre peuple et de la fermeté de ses résistants, et nous annonçons notre engagement envers l'accord conclu et les calendriers qui y sont liés tant que l'occupation s'y conformera."

⭕Les Brigades #Al-Qassam ont publié, dans le cadre de la série d'opérations « Le bâton de Moïse », des images montrant comment elles ciblent et écrasent les forces d'invasion dans le quartier de #Tel_Al-Hawa, au Sud de la ville de #Gaza.

⭕Brigades #Al-Qassam : Dans le cadre des opérations "Bâton de Moïse", images du raid sur un rassemblement de soldats et de véhicules ennemis dans l'école "Sœurs du Rosaire" dans le quartier de #Tel_Al-Hawa, au Sud de la ville de #Gaza.

Comme voulu, Israël utilise le prétexte du Hamas pour réaliser ses objectifs : le ciblage des civils palestinien·nes, l’occupation terrestre de Gaza et son nettoyage ethnique, ainsi que, plus largement, un expansionnisme à l’échelle régionale.

Dr. Leïla Seurat (politiste, autrice d’une thèse sur la politique étrangère du Hamas) livre une analyse des restructurations en cours des différents acteurs, dans le contexte de la guerre contre Gaza, de la nouvelle donne régionale et du paysage politique palestinien : https://www.yaani.fr/2025/06/20/le-hamas-a-lheure-du-genocide-a-gaza-entretien-avec-leila-seurat/ @israel @palestine

#punitionCollective #méthodeGaza #méthode #génocide #génocideEnContinu #vengeance #Gaza #guerre #guerreàGaza #guerreIsraëlGaza #bombardements #nettoyageEthnique #crimesDeGuerre #terrorisme #terrorismeDÉtat #méthode #procédure #Bibi #Netanyahou #Fatah #OLP #Palestiniens #nationalisme #sionisme #aideHumanitaire #famine #israel #israëlApartheid #Yaani #bombardements #drones #négociations #défaite #tunnels #BeitHanoun #alQassam #axeDeLaRésistance #résistance #occupation #tampons #zonesTampon #déportation #expulsion #réfugiés #déplacés #FrèresMusulmans #Syrie #géopolitique #MoyenOrient #ProcheOrient #Levant #Jordanie #Ramallah #AutoritéPalestinienne #Seurat #LeïlaSeurat #Witkoff #SteveWitkoff

@paul_denton Cet évènement devrait rester secret pour ne pas réveiller des cellules dormantes islamistes.

#AlQassam #Hezbollah

And while in #Lebanon, #Hezbollah is sending #Zionists back wounded, by the thousands, in the supposedly cleared #Gaza the #AlQassam Brigades continue to annihilate Zionist forces.

Yesterday they eliminated a unit at close range using machine guns and grenades on Al-Hawaja Street in the centre of #Jabalia settlement, north of the #GazaStrip.

Hamas has released additional combat footage from the Jabalia Camp area showing significant resistance operations this week.

While it is very true that Israel is commiting a genocide in Palestine (and now Lebanon as well), it's hard to believe the IOF would be able to have gotten this far without the insane amount of US made bombs they got for free.

#AlQassam #Jabalia