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Following three days of conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the Gaza Strip, PIJ leader Ziyad Nakhalah said in an August 7, 2022 press conference in Tehran that was aired on the PIJ's Palestine Today TV network that the Israeli "enemy" has conceded to the PIJ's demand to release two PIJ leaders, and that the ceasefire proves that Israel has not achieved anything in this round of fighting. He said that if the prisoners are not released, the ceasefire will be considered void and the PIJ will resume fighting. In addition, Nakhalah praised Qatar's Al-Jazeera Network and thanked it for its coverage of the "war", adding: "I salute you". He also thanked Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam TV.
Ziyad Nakhalah: "First of all, if the enemy would have achieved anything, then it would not have strived to reach an agreement with the Islamic Jihad. The enemy strived with all its might to reach a ceasefire agreement through the [mediation] of Egypt and the UN. Throughout the last 24 hours, there was ongoing communication with our brothers in the Gaza Strip, with us here [in Tehran], and through other diplomats, in order to reach this agreement.
"From the very beginning, we insisted that the two leaders be freed — the brother on hunger strike, and Bassam Al-Saadi. The enemy tried to proceed slowly in agreeing to this demand, but in the end it has conceded to these demands, with explicit Egyptian guarantees — that our mujahid brother Khalil Awawdeh will set out for the hospital tomorrow, and then he will go home. As for Bassam Al-Saadi, we received an explicit promise, in writing, that Egypt pledges to follow up on his release in the shortest possible time frame.
"I want to be precise in my words — we gave them one week, but [the Egyptians] apologized, and said that they cannot work towards his release in one week, and so we gave them this wiggle room, but in the end, the enemy agreed to this.
"Nevertheless, I want to make it clear that if Israel, the enemy, does not abide by these demands that it agreed to, then we would treat this as if there was no [ceasefire] at all, the [ceasefire] agreement was void, and we will resume the fighting, inshallah. If the enemy does not carry out its obligations according to the agreement, we will not hesitate for a moment to resume the fighting, and then Allah can do with us as He wills.
[...]
"I would like to welcome the brother, who is a reporter of Al-Jazeera, and I would like to salute Al-Jazeera, as well as all the TV channels, but especially to Al-Jazeera, that broadcast live from Palestine throughout the days of the war, and it covered the news in detail, hour by hour, and minute by minute, and therefore I salute them.
[...]
"I would like to thank the Al-Alam TV Channel as well as all the TV channels. The brothers made great efforts, everyone, with no exception, but I would like to specifically mention Al-Jazeera for the efforts they made."
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