GAZA CITY
Israeli aggressions against the Gaza Strip will fail and the Palestinian people will emerge victorious regardless of any sacrifices, a senior official from the Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas said early on Friday.
"To the enemy I say: Stop the crimes of your war against our people," the deputy chief of the political office of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, said in a statement.
"Your aggression will come short of achieving its goals and our people will win regardless of all sacrifices and threats," he added.
At least 90 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds injured in three days of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as part of a military offensive – dubbed "Operation Protective Edge" – with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from Gaza.
Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire rockets into Israel – without causing any fatalities thus far – in response to the unrelenting airstrikes.
Haniyeh said in his statement that Israel had violated the terms of an Egypt-sponsored truce it signed with Gaza factions in 2012 a long time ago.
"The Israeli enemy has started this and it has to stop the aggression because we only defend ourselves," Haniyeh said.
"We hold our people in high esteem, bow in respect for the martyrs and feel proud of the resistance that has managed to confuse the enemy," he added.
By Mustafa Haboosh
http://www.aa.com.tr/en
