Abu Obeida, the military spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades issued a detailed statement on the 48th day of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Storm as published by media late on Thursday.
The statement by the Qassam spokesman came shortly after the precise time of the start of a four-day ceasefire was confirmed.
Below, is the full, unedited, statement of Abu Obeida, as translated from Arabic and provided by the Resistance News Network Telegram channel.
335 Military Vehicles and Counting
“On the 48th day of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, our fighters continue at all their positions, lines, fronts, and combat nodes with the help and support of Allah, resisting the brutal Zionist aggression.
“With the help of Allah Almighty, we have documented the targeting of 335 Zionist military vehicles since the beginning of the ground incursion, directly hit by our anti-armor weapons, guerrilla action devices, and Shuath explosives. This includes 33 vehicles targeted in the last 72 hours in the areas of Al-Tawam, Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun, Al-Sheikh Radwan, and Al-Zaytoun.
“The results of these targeting operations ranged from complete to partial destruction of these vehicles, which varied between troop carriers, tanks, bulldozers, and excavators. This is besides dozens of operations targeting soldiers and infantry forces in their fortification, positioning, and assembly areas with shells and anti-personnel devices.
“We continued bombarding the Zionist gatherings with mortar shells and persisted in directing rocket barrages towards various targets at different ranges inside the Zionist entity.
“In the past three days, our fighters have carried out several qualitative operations that definitively killed enemy forces outside their vehicles.
“A group of our fighters set up an ambush in the Al-Tawam area, north of the Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, the day before yesterday:
An enemy troop carrier dropped off a group of soldiers in the ambush area, where our fighters attacked them from point-blank range with grenades and machine guns, killing at least five Zionist soldiers.
They waited for the arrival of the rescue force before detonating an anti-personnel explosive in the garage of a home that the soldiers tried to enter, trapping the rescue force in another ambush before the fighters withdrew safely to their positions.
“In another operation, one of our fighters in his combat position attacked eight Zionist soldiers who disembarked from a troop carrier east of Al-Rantisi Hospital in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon. He showered them with bullets from a distance of 10 meters, killing and wounding them, without the ability for them to return fire, while the fighter returned safely to his combat position under the care of the Merciful.
“On Tuesday morning, a group of Al-Qassam fighters in Beit Hanoun targeted a group of six enemy infantry soldiers with a thunderous anti-personnel explosive. The extraction force that came to the area was monitored and rushed to the site under a barrage of smoke and random shelling.
“Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, our fighters spotted a Zionist force attempting to blow up one of the tunnels at Tallat Qleibo, north of Jabaliya camp. Our fighters carried out a preemptive strike against the enemy infantry forces by rigging the tunnel entrance and blowing it up with the hostile forces inside, achieving confirmed casualties, by the power of Allah. This was followed by a sniper operation that instantly killed one of the soldiers.
“A Zionist force advanced this Thursday morning to occupy a building near Kuwait Roundabout on Salah Al-Din Street in Al-Zaytoun neighborhood. A group of our fighters attacked them from point-blank range, destroying a Merkava tank tower while a soldier was ascending the tower. Then, the group attacked infantry soldiers preparing to fortify in the building, showering them with grenades and machine guns, causing dead and wounded before the fighters withdrew to their combat position under the care of the Merciful.
Just a Start
“On the 48th day of our battle against the aggression, we in Al-Qassam Brigades, affirm that the heroics of our fighter in the battlefield are a matter of pride for every free person in the world. We face a barbaric invading force that knows neither the religion nor the ethics of war, only proficient in killing and indiscriminate shelling.
“The enemy’s ground maneuver strategy was built on destroying and killing everything quickly to declare victory, as well as committing massacres against civilians with brutality witnessed by the world. However, this plan has been thwarted by us and will continue to be thwarted with the help of Allah.
“Our fighters are entrenched in their positions and combat nodes, with some having been on their post for more than 30 days, waiting for the moment to strike their specified target at the designated time. This explains why our fighters, by the grace of Allah, are still able to strike enemy forces in their rear lines, emerging from the rubble and in areas the enemy thought were militarily decided weeks ago.
“The enemy is still concealing its true losses, which we know and witness. We are in direct combat with the invading enemy forces, and our fighters closely witness the killing of enemy soldiers and observe their struggles in retrieving the bodies and injured from the battlefield.
“We consider that the enemy’s human losses have not yet begun, if they decide to continue their ground operations and their Nazi aggression.
“Since the first day, we have said and still say, that the trembling enemy leadership, which decided to commit this holocaust against our people, also decided to throw its soldiers in the heart of this holocaust. All indicators and observations seen by our fighters in the field suggest that the soldiers whom the enemy has thrown into this battle are not ready for it and do not understand its consequences.
“What the enemy relies on to prolong the battle is genocide, brutalization, collective punishment, and committing massacres, not any real tangible military objective. Therefore, we affirm that we are ready, with the help of Allah, to continue the confrontation and resistance to the enemy, regardless of the duration and extent of the aggression.
“The enemy and those behind them, who are delusional and dream of breaking our Resistance, should save their efforts and not deceive themselves. We are seekers of justice and fighters for freedom. It is better for those chasing mirages to recognize the rights of our people and end the occupation of this savage, fascist entity and its criminal aggression against our children, our people, our families, and our sanctities.
“What the enemy accepted in the temporary truce and partial exchange deal is what we proposed before the start of the Zionist ground maneuvers, which the enemy then refused, claiming that it would achieve this result through military force. We have affirmed and continue to affirm that the only way to return the enemy’s prisoners is through exchange.
‘We Salute You’
“What the enemy achieved during this ground operation is more arrogance, massacres, and blind destruction, in addition to killing more of its prisoners and prolonging their suffering, not to mention losing a very large number of its soldiers, dead and wounded, on the battlefield.
“We salute the fighters of our people in the occupied West Bank, who are the vanguard of our people in confronting the hordes of invaders and occupation forces. We also salute the forces of our (Arab and Islamic) nation that have risen to assist our people and our Resistance with direct field action against the enemy on multiple fronts, especially our brothers in Yemen, Yemen of Arabism and Islam, who were moved by the cries of our people and the calls of our resistance. They rose with their renowned Arab pride, breaking the chains of geography, and continue to support Gaza with great vigor and determination.
“Likewise, our brothers in Lebanon, whose actions are escalating as they besiege the occupier from its northern front, disconcerting it and striking its strongholds. Our brothers in the free Iraq, and every front that strives, works, and will work to strike and break the enemy of the nation.
“As we salute these arms that refused to be limited to mere verbal solidarity and went beyond it: we call for escalating the confrontation with the occupation by the heroes of our people and nation in all parts of the occupied West Bank and on the fronts of resistance, delivering strikes to the enemy and pursuing it across the entire geography of Palestine and its historical borders.
“We call on our brothers in Jordan, in particular, to escalate all forms of popular, mass, and resistance action. You, our people in Jordan, are the nightmare of the occupation that fears your movement and strives tirelessly to neutralize and isolate you from your cause.
“We also call on all the free people of the world to inflict pain and confusion on the rogue enemy state wherever the occupation’s interests are found.
“O blessed people of ours here in Gaza, a salute of admiration to you for this legendary, great steadfastness, which serves as a model for every free person in the world. It reflects the deep faith of our people and their cause, and an unprecedented steadfastness on their sacred land, despite the pain, suffering, and Zionist-Nazi brutality.
“We, as a part of our people, share this pain with our people. We are with you, from you, and fight for our honor, land, and dignity, standing against this accursed enemy in every book, despised by all free peoples of the earth.
“We tightly hold the hands of our people and say to them, ‘Indeed, with hardship comes ease.’ ‘Indeed, the victory of Allah is near’ and it is jihad, victory or martyrdom.”
MNA/PR
