Israel ‘paralyzed’ after failing to eliminate resistance: Islamic Jihad envoy

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement’s envoy to Tehran says Israel has has failed to achieve “any of its goals” after the brutal aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip, mainly eliminating the resistance forces in Gaza.

“The main goal of the Zionist regime was to destroy the resistance forces, but, despite all the brutality and crimes [it committed] and unprecedented support it received from the arrogant powers, it could not achieve anything,” Nasser Abu-Sharif said in an interview with ISNA.

He noted that the aggression that began on October 7 has even inflicted heavy casualties and losses on the regime and hit its economy, and “the regime is completely paralyzed now.”

His remarks come as Israel was forced to reach a ceasefire agreement with Hamas resistance movement based on the terms of the group.

Abu-Sharif described the four-day ceasefire which took effect on Friday as “an opportunity to deliver aid, water, food and medicine to women and children in Gaza and provide shelter to the displaced people.”

The envoy noted that the Israeli aggression has exposed “the reality and cruelty” of the Western countries that support the occupying regime.

The West “doesn’t respect international laws, moral rules and freedom.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Abu-Sharif praised and appreciated Iran’s stance on the situation in Gaza, referring to the remarks made by President Ebrahim Raeisi in the emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that was held in Riyadh earlier this month.

However, the envoy slammed some Arab regimes for their failure to take practical steps in support of Palestinians.

“Unfortunately, countries that have ties with the Zionist regime and share a border with Gaza, such as Egypt, could not adopt a serious stance.”

Abu-Sharif downplayed statements made by some Arab countries in which they condemned Israel’s onslaught, stressing that “practical steps are more important.”

He further said that Arab regimes can’t allow even “a glass of water” to enter Gaza without Israel’s permission, describing all ties with Israel as “a stab in the back of the Palestinian nation.”

He urged countries that maintain ties with Tel Aviv to “completely cut their relations” with the occupying regime.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.

Nearly 15,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in the Israeli strikes.