
The Hamas leader calls the ceasefire a defeat for Israel while welcoming the October 7 atrocities

Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya declared that Israel had failed to achieve its goals in Gaza, calling the ceasefire and hostage-taking deal announced shortly before his speech on Wednesday a “historic moment” and describing it as a defeat for the Jewish state .
“Our people have thwarted the stated and hidden goals of the occupation. “Today we prove that the occupation will never defeat our people and their resistance,” al-Hayya was quoted as saying by the German news agency dpa during a televised address from Qatar.
He praised the Hamas-led massacres of Israelis on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian terrorists killed around 1,200 people and took 251 prisoners in the deadliest massacre of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust, as a “military achievement” and “source” . “I am proud of our people,” said a translation of his remarks by The New York Times.
Al-Hayya, who served as Hamas’ chief negotiator during the hostage talks, also praised other Iranian-backed organizations such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels for their solidarity attacks on Israel.
He suggested that Hamas would continue to promote the destruction of Israel, saying the Palestinian terrorist organization would continue to look to Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque as a “compass.”
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“Our enemy will never see a moment of weakness from us,” he added.
Palestinians break into the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border fence during a Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel, October 7, 2023. (Reuters/Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa)
Al-Hayya also claimed that Hamas “will not forgive” the suffering caused in the Gaza Strip by the war triggered by its attack in October 2023, which led to massive devastation across the coastal enclave. The Hamas-run Health Ministry has since reported over 46,000 deaths in Gaza, an unconfirmed figure that makes no distinction between civilians and combatants.
“In the name of every sacrifice, every drop of blood shed and every tear of pain and oppression, we say: We will not forget and we will not forgive,” al-Hayya said.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second-largest terror group after Hamas, also praised the ceasefire agreement as “honorable.”
Hamas had needed the support of Islamic Jihad for the agreement in order to avoid possible disruption of the process.
“Today our people and their resistance reached an honorable agreement to stop the aggression,” Islamic Jihad said in a statement.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists are seen on their way to cross the Israel-Gaza border fence from Khan Younis during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. (Said Khatib/ AFP/ File)
The Iran-backed terror group said the agreement between Israel and Hamas includes the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as well as an “honorable” prisoner exchange, adding that terrorist organizations in Gaza “will remain vigilant to ensure the full implementation of this agreement.” ”
Islamic Jihad also captured prisoners when it took part in the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and has been fighting alongside Hamas against Israeli forces in Gaza since then.
Under Wednesday’s multi-stage agreement aimed at ending 15 months of fighting in Gaza, Hamas and other terror groups are to gradually release 94 hostages still in Gaza out of the 251 kidnapped on Oct. 7 .
During a week-long ceasefire in late November, Hamas released 105 civilians and previously released four hostages. Eight hostages were rescued alive by troops, and the bodies of 40 hostages were also recovered, including three who were accidentally killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Gaza Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers killed in 2014
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