Islamic Jihad leader: Resistance got Israel entangled in its biggest crisis in 70 years

The leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement says Israel has been caught in the biggest crisis it has ever faced in the past 70 years, as the Palestinians keep firing barrages of rockets into the panic-stricken occupied territories in defense of their compatriots in Gaza and Jerusalem al-Quds.

Speaking late on Wednesday, Ziyad al-Nakhalah said the Palestinians have been defending al-Quds in the face of the Zionists’ insults and encroachments while confronting the latest types of American weapons with domestically-made arms.

“The will of the Palestinian nation is stronger these days than ever before, and we feel more free when we fight,” he added. “We have entered a battle that we know will cost a lot, but this path was the only way to achieve freedom, muster support for the Palestinian nation and defend al-Quds.”

Nakhalah also said that the world and the Arabs should recognize that Israel is “a big and empty lie,” stressing that the Palestinian fighters are currently creating a miracle before the world’s eyes.

“These days, the Palestinian people and the resistance have gotten the Zionist regime entangled in its biggest crisis in the past seven decades after the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe),” he said, referring to the day when the Israeli regime proclaimed existence and drove hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland in 1948.

The Islamic Jihad leader further warned the Zionist enemy to stop encroaching on al-Quds and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.

Where is your army? Al-Quds Brigades mocks Israel's ground invasion bluff 

In another development on Wednesday, the al-Quds Brigades (Saraya al-Quds), the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, released a video ridiculing the Israeli army for its bluff on a ground invasion of Gaza.

The footage showed images of areas near the Gaza fence, where Israeli forces have no presence. The pictures were captured by drones belonging to resistance fighters.

“Where is your army? Where are your armors? We have been waiting for you for hundreds of hours along the Gaza border!” the al-Quds Brigades told the Tel Aviv regime.

Since May 10, Israeli warplanes have been targeting residential buildings in Gaza, killing 227 Palestinians, including 38 women and 64 children, and injuring 1,620 others.

Gaza-based resistance factions have been firing rockets into the occupied territories in response to the Israeli bloodshed. Tel Aviv said some 4,000 rockets have been launched from Gaza since the outbreak of the conflict.

A special session of the UN General Assembly will be held on Thursday to discuss the conflict.

It comes amid failed efforts by the UN Security Council to agree to a statement calling for a ceasefire due to US opposition.

On Wednesday, pro-Palestine rallies were held in the German capital, Berlin, as well as Kuwait City and Karachi in Pakistan.

Netanyahu says ‘determined’ to continue Gaza offensive

In a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden said he expected “a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire.”

Netanyahu, however, said he was “determined” to continue bombarding Gaza until Israel’s “aim is met.”

South Africa: Israeli actions evocative of apartheid

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the situation in Gaza reminded him of the apartheid era in his own country. 

“Palestinians want their own self-determination rights. They want their own state. They want to be able to run their own affairs and have freedom, and not have to be restricted to move around,” he told France 24.

Ramaphosa also noted that the way the Israelis “have been denying the Palestinians their rights, the way they’ve been bombing the area, one could quite easily characterize it as an apartheid-type of state.”

“I have no other reference point to describe what the Israelis are doing against the Palestinians,” he added.

Save the Children says unable to deliver aid to Gazans

Mazen Naim, communications officer for Save the Children in Gaza, said the Israeli air raids were preventing international organizations from delivering aid and assessing the damage in Gaza.

“We draw up plans and wait until the ceasefire happens so we are able to reach people and deliver the assistance and do the assessment of the schools,” he told Doda-based Al Jazeera TV channel.

“The first step is to do an assessment of the damage and raise funds for the rebuilding and rehabilitation for the schools, everything that’s related to the physical side in order to resume education … But there is also the psychological part, the children themselves will be suffering from trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder and various other disorders,” he added.

Rights group urges probe into Israeli aggression

Palestinian human rights group al-Haq called for an international investigation into Israeli aerial assaults on the besieged Gaza Strip.

It also said the destruction of al-Jalaa tower, which housed the offices of Al Jazeera and The Associated Press, was “unlawful.”

UN member states must “condemn Israel’s unwarranted targeting of media buildings” and “pressure Israel to urgently and immediately treat media personnel and media buildings as protected civilians and civilian objects, and respect their humanitarian immunity,” the rights group emphasized.

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