Iran-Saudi rapprochement to have positive effects on Palestine: Islamic Jihad leader

“The Tehran-Riyadh agreement has had a positive impression on the region and removed the existing tensions”, Nakhala said during an interview with the Arabic-language hayawashington news site on Tuesday, adding that the agreement will have “positive results” for the Palestinian cause as well.

After several days of intensive negotiations hosted by China, Iran and Saudi Arabia clinched a deal on March 10 to restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies.

Diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran were severed by Saudi Arabia in January 2016 after Iranian protesters, angered by the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by the Saudi government, stormed its embassy in Tehran.

He further denounced as “a big disappointment” the normalization of ties by some Arab states with Israel, calling on the Arabs to support Palestinians’ resistance.

Back in September 2020, Israel signed normalization agreements with the UAE and Bahrain during an official ceremony at the White House.

The normalization deals, which Sudan and Morocco later joined, have sparked widespread condemnations from the Palestinians as well as nations and human rights advocates across the globe, especially within the Muslim world.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Nakhala reacted to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threats of assassinating the resistance movement’s leaders, saying, Israel will be the target of attacks by resistance should Netanyahu dare “target” the leaders of the resistance movement in other arenas.

“We are also able to target their capital and other occupied cities,” he stated.

Nakhala further stressed that the martyrdom of resistance commanders has not weakened the military structure of the resistance movement, adding that their deputies assumed their responsibility immediately.

The Israeli regime launched a relentless campaign of airstrikes against Gaza on May 9, assassinating several resistance commanders.

In response, Palestinian resistance factions have launched retaliatory strikes toward Israeli cities and settlements.

After five days of fighting, the two sides agreed to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that took effect on Saturday night.

At least 33 Palestinians, including 13 civilians, were killed and 147 others wounded in the latest round of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The conflict marked the worst episode of fighting between Gaza’s resistance factions and the Israeli regime since a 10-day war in 2021.