1801-02

Military Communiqué issued by

::: Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades :::

Statement by Al-Qassam Brigades Chief of Staff Mohammed Deif

On the military operation against the Israeli occupation, the commander-in-chief of Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif, states the following:

The Zionist colonial occupation has occupied our Palestinian homeland, displaced our people, destroyed our towns and villages, perpetrated hundreds of massacres against our people, killing children, women, and elderly people and demolished homes with their inhabitants inside, in violation of all international norms and laws and human rights conventions.

We have previously warned the Israeli occupation against persisting in their crimes and appealed to world leaders to work on ending the Israeli crimes against our Palestinian people and detainees and their holy sites and homeland and pressing the Israeli occupation to abide by international law and resolutions.

Neither did the Israeli occupation leaders heed our demands nor did the world leaders act in this regard. 

Instead, the Israeli occupation intensified its crimes, crossing all red lines, particularly in occupied Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque – Muslims' first Qibla and third holiest site. 

The Israeli occupation forces have escalated their incursion into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, desecrating the Muslim sacred sites and repeatedly attacking worshippers, particularly women, children, and elderly people. 

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation banned Palestinian citizens from accessing the Al-Aqsa Mosque and allowed Israeli colonial settlers to defile the Muslim sacred site and conduct daily raids into it. 

During such raids, Israeli colonial settlers performed religious rituals and prayers and blew the horn at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They have declared their intentions to build their purported temple on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

They also insulated our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) inside the Al-Aqsa compound, tore up the Quran, and brought dogs into the Muslim sacred site. 
Each day, Israeli colonial settlers attempt to impose a new fait accompli on the ground and attack the Palestinian citizens of occupied Jerusalem and steal their homes and property. 

The Israeli occupation has desecrated the Al-Aqsa Mosque, from which the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ascended to heaven on the al-Isra wa al-Mi’raj journey. 

Hundreds of Palestinian citizens have been killed and wounded so far this year in crimes committed by the Israeli occupation. 
In the meantime, the Israeli occupation is holding thousands of Palestinian detainees in its prisons, where they are subjected to the most heinous forms of oppression, torture, and humiliation. 

Hundreds of Palestinian detainees have been jailed for over 20 years; dozens more have suffered cancers and other diseases; several more have died as a result of medical negligence and deliberate slow-death policies. 

However, our calls for a humanitarian swap deal were met with rejection by the Israeli occupation. 

The Israeli occupation forces storm the towns and villages of the occupied West Bank on a daily basis, raiding and ransacking Palestinian homes and shooting and detaining Palestinian citizens. 

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation has seized thousands of dunums of Palestinian territory and uprooted Palestinian citizens from their homes and lands to build illegal settlements while providing cover for colonial settlers to rampage through Palestinian towns and villages and attack and terrorise the Palestinian citizens. 

As the Israeli occupation maintains its siege of the Gaza Strip and continues its crimes against our Palestinian people showing utmost disregard for international laws and resolutions amid US and Western support and international silence, we have decided to put an end to all of that and announce a military operation "Al-Aqsa Flood" against the Israeli occupation.

Ezzeddeen Al-Qassam Brigades

Information Office

October 07, 2023