Abu Obeida: We committed to all stages of the ceasefire agreement and its terms

The al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced on Sunday evening that the operation “al Aqsa Flood” battle against Israel had changed the equations, stressing its commitment to the ceasefire agreement on condition that Israel abides by it.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, spoke in a videotaped speech that lasted about 24 minutes, which is his first since October 7, and the thirtieth speech since the start of the Israeli war of extermination in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.

This speech coincided with the first day of a ceasefire and prisoner exchange between Israel and the Palestinian factions in Gaza, which began on Sunday morning, with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

Abu Obeida said, “Reaching an agreement to stop the aggression and the war of extermination against our people has been our goal for many months, and even since the beginning of this aggression”.

Abu Obeida continued, “The agreement that was reached would have been possible more than a year ago if it had suited the ambitions of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and his government, which insisted on continuing the genocide and aimed to displace our people”.

He added, “Throughout this war, we were keen to stop it quickly, to stop the bloodshed of our people and our families and to stop this genocide”.

Abu Obeida added, “With all our brothers in the Palestinian resistance factions, we declare our commitment to the ceasefire and our readiness to implement its provisions and abide by its conditions”.

He explained that this would be in terms of stopping the fighting and adhering to the timetable for exchanging and securing the enemy’s prisoners, leading to their handover in exchange for the prisoners of our free, heroic people, in all stages of the agreed-upon deal.

He added, “While we emphasize that all of this is subject to the enemy’s commitment, we hold everyone accountable regarding the occupation’s violations of the agreement”.

He warned that potential violations could jeopardize the operation, in terms of our commitment and ability to implement the exchange and directly impact the safety and lives of enemy prisoners.

The ceasefire will continue in its first phase for 42 days, during which negotiations will take place to start a second and then a third phase.

In the first stage, Hamas is scheduled to release 33 Israeli prisoners, male and female, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the number of whom depends on the status of each Israeli prisoner, whether he is a military or civilian.

Abu Obeida said, “471 days have passed since the historic Battle of the al Aqsa Flood, which hammered the final nail into the coffin of the inevitably disappearing Zionist occupation”.

Abu Obeida added, “The Battle began from the outskirts of Gaza, but it changed the face of the region and even beyond that, and established new equations in the conflict with this occupying entity”.

He addressed the people of Gaza, saying, “Greetings to you, our people in Gaza… You have created a historic epic, and your steadfastness and perseverance have astonished the world, its friends and enemies alike”.

He spoke about the shock that the occupying entity was exposed to in this battle.

He demonstrated this by the collapse of his deterrence theory, the killing and wounding of thousands of his soldiers, the destruction and removal of about two thousand of his vehicles from service, and the damage to the foundations of his so-called national security.

As well as dealing a very heavy blow to its economy, imposing displacement and migration on large areas of the occupied territories (the 1948 territories), opening multiple battle fronts against it, besieging it by sea, and forcing it to seek help from international forces to defend it.

He continued, “From showing it as a brutal, criminal entity, to exposing the tyrants of the world and its formal organizations behind it, to ostracizing it and pursuing its leaders and soldiers as war criminals wanted by justice”.

Abu Obeida added, “All of this and much more has led the vast majority of the world’s people to the conviction that the Israeli occupation is the greatest sin of this time, and that its continued occupation of our land will affect the entire region and the world”.

He added that “the silence and collusion of the forces of injustice in the so-called international community on the enemy’s crimes in Gaza will have repercussions far beyond Gaza, and will be a disaster for the occupation and all its supporters, as well as those who collude with it, the slackers, and the tyrants”.

Abu Obeida said, “We fought with our brothers in all the resistance factions as one for more than 15 months, and (our fighters) continued to strike the enemy until the last day of fighting in every part of the Gaza Strip, and inflicted heavy losses on the occupation”.

He continued, “Since the beginning of this battle, we have been fighting in circumstances that seem impossible in military calculations, in light of a huge imbalance in the balance of the battle, and in front of an army of murderous and criminal gangs that don’t recognize the ethics or laws of war, and don’t care about human rights”.

He added, “While we faced our enemy with a few blessed weapons, our criminal enemy sought help from the most powerful, oppressive, and unjust countries in the world, which provided him with air bridges of bombs and opened ammunition depots for him”.

“While we have been directing our strikes since October 7 at the Zionist army, the enemy has confronted us by killing our families and children and destroying homes, neighborhoods and civilian facilities indiscriminately,” Abu Obeida added.

He added, “While we made every effort to preserve the enemy’s prisoners, in accordance with our ABCs and to preserve our noble goals, the enemy persisted in trying to kill them around the clock, and killed many of them”.

Abu Obeida stressed that in light of these unbalanced equations, the greatness of this battle becomes clear, and how it will become an inspiring historical epic for generations and free people.

He saw that “the manifestations of the greatness of this battle are in the progress of the commanders for the convoys of martyrs, from the top of the pyramid of political leadership, the martyr leader Ismail Haniyeh and the martyr Sheikh Saleh al Arouri, and the leader of the movement (Hamas) in Gaza, the martyr Yahya al Sinwar, whose martyrdom has become a global icon”.

He continued, “The convoy of martyrs also included a group of Hamas leadership and the leadership of the Qassam Brigades at all levels, as well as leaders from our brothers in the resistance factions”.

Abu Obeida pointed out the ongoing Israeli aggression that Gaza and the West Bank are being subjected to, and the aggression that neighboring countries of Palestine are being subjected to on their lands and the violation of their sovereignty.

He also referred to “what the enemy publicly declares and publishes of maps and plans that don’t see the existence of large peoples, nations and countries with a deep-rooted history in this land”.

Abu Obeida stressed that all of this shows the world that this Israeli enemy is the cause of the disaster in the region, and that efforts should be focused on how to contain it, confront its arrogance, stop its aggression, and end its occupation of our lands.

He continued, “Therefore, all attempts to integrate this entity into the region (through normalization), especially after the war, will be confronted and fail by the flood of awareness, the deep-rooted resistance, and the free peoples”.

Abu Obeida addressed the people of the occupied West Bank, saying, “We appreciate the stance of the West Bank, especially the city of Jenin and its camp, despite the attempts at liquidation”.

He continued, “Greetings to our people and resistance fighters in all the cities, villages and camps of the dear West Bank, and we call on them to prepare to engage in confronting the enemy’s dangerous upcoming plans, escalate the confrontation with the occupier, and unite and reject all attempts at sedition and beautifying cooperation with the occupation”.

He also extended his greetings and great thanks to the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) and the Yemeni people, the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon (Hezbollah) and the Lebanese people, Iran, the Iraqi Resistance, and the Free Jordanians for participating in the battle.

He added, “We send our greetings to all the peoples of our Arab and Islamic nation who demonstrated and supported our battle and our cause and continue to do so, and who sent us all forms of material and moral support… From the peoples of the Arabian Gulf in the east to the peoples of the Arab Maghreb in the west, and from all the peoples of our Islamic nation from Tangier to Jakarta”.

He continued, “We also salute all the free people of the world who demonstrated by the millions in thousands of squares around the world and continue to do so for more than 15 months… For their rejection of the brutal Zionist war of extermination and their support for the just Palestinian cause”.

He addressed the people of Gaza, saying, “We’ll rebuild together what the occupation has destroyed… The great price and the great pain that we have suffered and that we feel and suffer from with our people are the price of a great victory and a blessed conquest that is inevitable”.

He concluded by saying, “At that time for victory, we will know, and you will know, that every drop of blood shed on this land… Was the price for liberating the land, the people, and the holy places”.

He concluded his speech by saying, “Oh our people in Gaza, this is the time for solidarity, mutual support and compassion… Just as we presented a model of heroism and greatness on the ground, we will present a model of steadfastness, construction, seizing rights, thwarting all the occupation’s plans and ambitions, and defeating it with our will and unity”.