Al-Aqsa Storm final nail in Israel’s coffin: Hamas

Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, made the remarks in a videotaped speech on Sunday, hours after the ceasefire agreement between the Israeli regime and the resistance group went into effect in Gaza.

“Operation al-Aqsa Strom began from the outskirts of Gaza, but it changed the face of the region and introduced new equations in the conflict with the occupying entity, and led to the opening of new battlefronts and forced the entity to turn to international powers to support it,” he said.

The spokesman added, “Hamas and all the resistance factions fought as one across the Gaza Strip and they dealt fatal blows to the enemy, with great valor and courage until the last hours of the battle, and they were fighting in conditions that seemed impossible.”

He also stressed that “all attempts to integrate the Zionist entity into the region will face deep-rooted resistance,” emphasizing that all efforts and plans must be focused on how to contain “this criminal enemy.”

Abu Ubaida further noted that “the great sacrifices” of Palestinians during 15 months of Israel’s brutal aggression against Gaza “will not go in vain,” adding that Operation al-Aqsa Strom hammered the final nail in the Israeli regime’s coffin and the occupying entity will undoubtedly disappear.

He also called on all mediators to force the Israeli regime to implement the ceasefire agreement, while reaffirming Hamas and the resistance factions’ commitment to the truce.

Earlier this week, Israel was forced to agree to a ceasefire, accepting Hamas’ longstanding negotiation terms.

The ceasefire deal consists of three phases, each lasting 42 days. Negotiations for the second and third phases will begin 16 days after the implementation of the first phase.

The first phase will see the release of some 1,900 Palestinian abductees in exchange for 33 Israeli captives held in Gaza. It also requires Israeli occupation forces to begin withdrawing from the Philadelphi corridor – also known as the Salah al-Din axis – on the Gaza-Egypt border.

Israel unleashed its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out a historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

However, the Tel Aviv regime failed to achieve its declared objectives of freeing captives and eliminating Hamas despite killing nearly 47,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza.