Deputy chairman of Hamas political bureau Ismail Haniya stated that the 2008 Israeli war on Gaza marked an important milestone towards the liberation of Jerusalem and Palestine.
Haniya asserted in a speech he delivered in the eighth anniversary of the war that the Israeli occupation had failed to achieve any of its goals, while Palestinians remained steadfast and fought off the aggression for 22 days.
“The Battle of Al-Furqan [the criterion] was a milestone that deepened the people’s commitment to resistance and laid the grounds for the 2011 prisoner swap deal and the victories of 2012 and 2014,” he said, adding that the battle distinguished between those who supported the Palestinian people and their resistance and others who kept silent.
He stressed that the occupation has failed to turn the people in Gaza against the resistance despite dozens of massacres that Israel committed over the course of the aggression.
“The 22 days of Israeli aggression were filled with stories of heroism, patience, sacrifice and popular support and rallying around the resistance, which joined forces with its people and government and fended off the enemy,” he underlined.
The Israeli occupation had on the 27th of December 2008 launched a major aggression against the Gaza Strip in a bid to crush the Palestinian resistance and secure the release of its captured soldier Gilad Shalit.
None of Israel’s goals were achieved and the aggression was terminated 22 days later.