Basem Naim, the head of Hamas’ Department of Politics and Foreign Relations, made the warning in an exclusive interview with Press TV news network on Monday as the Israeli regime prepares to launch an imminent ground offensive in Gaza after forcing its millions-strong population to relocate south.
“We believe that if they try to enter Gaza, they will be not only defeated but they will be buried in the Gaza Strip. They have tried this (entering Gaza) three or four times in the last 15 years and they have failed,” Naim said.
“We believe that, at this moment, a soldier in a tank is much, much weaker than a soldier in a tank 15 years ago,” he added. “A soldier who has seen what happened on October 7 to his bosses and other soldiers around the Gaza Strip and the strength and courageous behavior of our guys and fighters, I think they know now what can happen to them.”
Asked whether the Israeli regime would be able to restore its so-called image of invincibility before the surprise attack on October 7 by the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance groups, Naim replied with a resounding “never,” and said, “Never and ever they will be able to recoup their image before October 7.”
The senior Hamas official also said the Palestinian resistance movement had warned the Israeli regime before the attack that Palestinians could not keep silent anymore on the occupying entity’s desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque, closing the holy site to Palestinian worshippers, Judaization scheme, suffocating siege of Gaza for some 17 years and the long imprisonment of Palestinians.
Naim underlined that Hamas had warned the response to the continuation of Israeli crimes against Palestinians would not be a “normal” reaction but an “explosive” one.
Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm last Saturday, penetrating deep into the territories occupied by the Israeli regime, by carrying out large-scale air, land, and sea strikes.
The group said the operation was a reaction to the recurring desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds as well as intensified Israeli atrocities against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israel responded with intensive airstrikes on civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 2,808 Palestinians in Gaza and wounding some 10,859 others, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The regime has also intensified the siege of Gaza, leaving the city, home to more than 2.3 million Palestinians, without water, electricity, fuel, and internet.
SD/PressTV
