Zahhar calls for closing ranks against plots targeting Gaza

Member of Hamas’s political bureau Mahmoud Al-Zahhar has called on all Palestinian factions, clans and civil society institutions to stand united in the face of attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause and the plots being hatched against the Gaza Strip.

Zahhar made his remarks following a march organized by the Hamas Movement in Gaza City on Saturday evening in protest at the blockade on Gaza and in solidarity with the prisoners and hunger strikers in Israeli jails.

The Hamas official underlined that “Gaza would never sell out its faith and holy sites in exchange for an electricity bill.”

He called on the world’s free people to organize aid convoys to Gaza to break the siege imposed on its population and to establish a fund to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, protect the Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem, and preserve Gaza as a project of resistance and liberation.

Zahhar also appealed to Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing permanently and establish economic relations with Gaza through creating a commercial exchange zone in Rafah.

The Hamas official also highlighted the issue of hunger-striking prisoners in Israeli jails, stressing the need to support them in their hunger battle and make efforts to free them from jail.

He reiterated his Movement’s vow that it would not rest until it extracted their freedom, and urged the hunger strikers to continue their struggle against the occupation.

In a related context, he took a sharp jab at PA chief Mahmoud Abbas, accusing him of stealing the Palestinian people’s funds which he obtains from Arab countries and using them for himself, his relatives, friends and entourage.

He also described Abbas as “an illegitimate president” and his recent punitive measures against the Gaza population with regard to electricity and salaries as “crimes against humanity.”

“Abbas lacks legitimacy and commits every day crimes against humanity by stealing electricity money to make profit for himself without any regard to the pains and tears of patients and the wounded,” he said.

“Abbas has lost wisdom in the administration of the [Palestinian] Authority, driven by hatred and malice towards the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian resistance,” he added.