‘Well-documented crimes committed by Israeli military will not fade with time,’ says Palestinian group
Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation move south after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate southward in the central Gaza Strip on September 13. PHOTO: REUTERS
Hamas warned on Sunday against efforts to “redesign” the Gaza Strip and drive Palestinians out of the enclave, according to Israeli plans.
In a statement marking the organization’s 38th anniversary, Hamas warned against “collaborating with displacement efforts and re-engineering the Gaza Strip according to the plans of the (Israeli) enemy,” stressing that the Palestinian people are the only authority to choose their rulers and are capable of managing their affairs.
Hamas described reaching a national consensus on a unified Palestinian strategy as “the only way to counter the plans of the (Israeli) occupation and its supporters, which aim to liquidate our national cause and prevent the establishment of our independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
During two years of genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, “the (Israeli) occupation has achieved nothing but the criminal targeting of unarmed civilians,” Hamas said.
Read more: Israeli forces kill senior Hamas commander Raed Saed in Gaza attack
“The systematic and well-documented crimes of the Zionist enemy during the two years of genocide and starvation in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem will not end with time,” he added, calling on the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court to continue their legal process and ensure that Israeli leaders are held accountable for their crimes20 October 3.
Affirming its compliance with the ceasefire agreement, Hamas called on the US and other mediators of the agreement to force Israel to stop its violations, open border crossings to the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid and immediately implement aid, shelter and reconstruction plans for more than 2 million Palestinians.
Hamas also expressed its categorical rejection of “any form of tutelage or mandate in the Gaza Strip or any inch of our occupied land.”
Hamas leader Khalil Haya said the mission of the “Peace Board” under the truce is to sponsor the implementation of the agreement, as well as to finance and oversee the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
Similarly, the role of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) should be limited to maintaining the ceasefire “without taking on tasks inside the Gaza Strip or interfering in its internal affairs,” Hayya added in a televised address.
He reiterated Hamas’ readiness to hand over all administrative affairs of the Gaza Strip to an independent Palestinian technocratic committee.
Haya called for the transition to the second phase of the cease-fire agreement to achieve the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza and to begin the reconstruction of the territory.
A cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas went into effect in Gaza on October 10, ending more than two years of Israeli attacks that have killed more than 70,000 people, the majority of them women and children, and wounded nearly 171,000 others since October 2023.
But the Israeli army has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, killing at least 386 Palestinians and injuring 1,018 others since October 10.
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