Hamas Military Chief Muhammad Deif: No Ceasefire Before Siege Is Lifted

In a message broadcast on July 29 on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV channel, Muhammad Deif, the commander of the Martyr Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, said: "There will be no ceasefire until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted."

Following are excerpts:

Muhammad Deif: Abraha of our age has taken over our nation and our people in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, using the mightiest war machines. Through siege and starvation, they sowed fear in the hearts of the peaceful. They killed children, women, and the elderly, and destroyed homes with people inside, as part of the largest "bank" of civilian targets in history.

This was in order to lead their people to believe that when they entered Gaza, they destroyed its tunnels and its rocket launchers, and in order to sell them a false victory. They embroiled their defeated army – and the soldiers they brought to the battlefield, leading them to their deaths with open eyes – in the quagmire of the so-called "ground operation."

We have the following bad news for them: First, the balance of power has shifted. Today, you are fighting the soldiers of God, who yearn to die for the sake of Allah just as you yearn for life. They race towards martyrdom just like you flee from death. All the factions of our people have united in the cause of fighting the aggression.

Second, what the planes, the artillery, and the warships failed to accomplish will not be accomplished by your defeated infantry, which has become, with the grace of Allah, easy prey for the guns and ambushes of the mujahideen.

[...]

The enemy should know that things are much more difficult than it imagines, and that it is sending its soldiers into a definite holocaust.

Third, we prefer fighting and killing the soldiers of the enemy's elite units than attacking civilians in the villages adjacent to Gaza, while the criminal enemy laps up the blood of civilians, by perpetrating massacres and razing whole neighborhoods to the ground, destroying them along with their inhabitants, whenever its soldiers' [urge] to kill intensifies.

Fourth, in this round of fighting, the plundering entity will not enjoy security, as long as our people does not live in security, liberty, and dignity. There will be no ceasefire until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted. We will not accept any compromise solution at the expense of the dignity and liberty of our people.

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May Allah have mercy upon our martyrs, heal our wounded, and liberate our prisoners. The victory of Allah is near. "Indeed, We will support Our messengers and those who believe, and those who believe during the life of this world, and on the day when the witnesses will stand."

Your brother, General Commander of the Martyr Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Khaled, Muhammad Deif, July 29, 2014.