TV Report on Hamas Tunnel-Digging Unit in Gaza: Resistance Courses Like Blood Through Their Veins

A report on a tunnel-digging unit of Hamas' military wing, the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, aired on March 17 on the Lebanese Al-Quds TV. Reporter Hanady Nasrallah visited one of the tunnels and the militants digging it and said that "resistance courses like blood through their veins" and that "they compete [for the privilege] of sacrificing their lives for the sake of liberating the land, the prisoners, and the holy places." Secret tunnels such as these one "provide the means for the resistance fighters to carry out quality operations against the Israeli occupation," she said.

Following is a transcript:

Narrator: By what they do, they are reaching the peak of glory. They are men who chose the bowels of the earth as a means for the revival of their nation, not only for the liberation of occupied Palestine.

Hamas Fighter 1: The Palestinian people, as everyone knows, is being persecuted, and its land has been stolen by the Zionist enemy. Anyone who is persecuted and his land stolen – it is his duty to defend it. That is the legitimate right of the Palestinian people. It has been embraced by the ‘Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, which paved the way and followed the path of the Prophet Muhammad, in driving the enemies out of our lands and our holy places.

Narrator: Down here, they can almost forget about the entire world. From their seclusion, an aroma of sacrifice arises.

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They will never deviate from this path, because resistance courses like blood through their veins.

Hamas Fighter 2: The Prophet’s companions, as they say, quarried the stone for victory. And here we are, quarrying the stone, for the sake of praying in the Al-Aqsa Mosque and liberating the land. This is what we wish for.

Hamas Fighter 1: By Allah, even if all the paths are blocked, we shall continue to wage Jihad. We will follow in the footsteps of the martyrs in order to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to purify the land from the occupiers and the tyrannical enemies.

Narrator: Secret tunnels like these, which run beneath a city besieged for twelve years, provide the means for the resistance fighters to carry out high-profile operations against the Israeli occupation. Carrying out such operations might lead one to become a direct target. Despite this, they compete [for the privilege] of sacrificing their lives for the sake of liberating the land, the prisoners, and the holy places.

Hamas Fighter 1: Oh prisoners, we are with you with our hearts and our souls. Your memory is always before our eyes, on our minds, and in our hearts. You are the best among us. You are our top priority. Allah willing, we will liberate you very soon.

Hanady Nasrallah: What is important is that they have full conviction that liberating Palestine and realizing the dream of [the liberation of] Jerusalem begins here. This is Hanady Nasrallah for Al-Quds TV, from Gaza, Palestine.

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