Hamas chief declares victory over Israel
Political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh says military resistance, strength of Palestinians will lead to lifting of blockade during Cairo talks.
"We won," said Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in his first statement since the ceasefire on Tuesday.
"The military victory by the resistance, and the legendary strength of our people will lead us to a lifting of the blockage on the Gaza Strip," said the former prime minister of Hamas in the Strip in a formal statement released on the terror organization's media outlets.
The Hamas chief said that Palestinian unity helped reach the agreement in Egypt. "A unified people stood behind our delegation in Cairo. We complied with all the diplomatic procedures and contacted our brothers in Qatar and Turkey and, now, in Egypt in order to end the aggression."
Haniyeh stressed that "what the enemy could not achieve on the physical battlefield it will not achieve in the diplomatic battlefield.
The leader of Hamas' political bureau said: "I am confident that our Egyptian and Arab brothers all want to help lift the blockage permanently. We support the unified Palestinian delegation in order to produce the most appropriate diplomatic solution and to bring about a resolution that would reflect both the immeasurable sacrifices of our people and the work of the resistance. The delegation stuck to our demands."
He added that with the start of the ceasefire "the image of destruction seen by the world is the proof to the extent of the IDF's defeat and its failure in fighting the brave resistance."
The Hamas political leader said the organization "will be loyal to our people who were hurt by the brutal aggression. The blood spilled by the deceased and the injured is the leadership's responsibility, we will not abandon them."
Meanwhile, senior Hamas officials began leaving their underground bunkers. Khalil al-Haya, in his first TV appearance in Gaza, said: "We are leaving for the negotiations in Cairo to lift the blockage once and for all. Our finger remains on the trigger."
Al-Haya and Imad al-Alami from Hamas and Khaled al-Batsh from Islamic Jihad all left Gaza for Cairo. They received guarantees they would not be hurt on the way to talks, similar to the guarantee received by Ahmed Jabari during the negotiations for the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
