The following is the full text of the speech by Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, on the first day of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, 7 October, 2023, as reported by Al-Jazeera:
In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
O children of our Palestinian people, O children of our Ummah [the Arab-Muslim community]. Today you have a rendezvous with a great victory and a dazzling triumph. From the front line of the indomitable and proud Gaza, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood has been launched by Al-Qassam Brigades [the military wing of Hamas], the Resistance factions and the children of our Palestinian people. You have seen the grand images of these pious and courageous fighters who drew the stigmata of humiliation, defeat and collapse on the face of the enemy. Operation Al-Aqsa Flood announced by my dear brother and Commander of the Resistance General Staff, mujahid Mohamed Deif, is led on the ground by the Commander of the Hamas Islamic Resistance, with brother Yahya Sinwar in the forefront; Al-Aqsa Flood which is led by the leaders of this movement from all its positions, with all the [other] Resistance factions, with all the children of our people, with all the children of this Ummah who aspire to a Great Victory.
What did these defeatists expect, [these Arabs] who have spread the culture of impotence and despair, and wanted the path to normalisation [of relations with Israel] to shape this stage with recognition of the enemy? Did they ever imagine they would see such images, such heroic deeds, such sacrifices, such courage, such pride? The perpetrators of these feats are “men who were sincere in their commitment to God. Some of them have reached their end [martyrdom], and others are still waiting; and they have not varied in any way (in their commitment).” (Quran, chapter 33, verse 23). These men shaped the gates of the Great Victory, and opened them for our people and our Ummah. These men, who know the Qur’an by heart, fast and pray in adoration of God the Most High and Exalted, have attacked and “penetrated inside the dwellings” (Quran, chapter 17, verse 5) in the heart of our territory occupied [by the enemy], around Gaza and further afield: “Help [from] God and a (promise of) upcoming victory.” (Quran, chapter 61, verse 13). You are most magnificent, O men of faith, O men of Al-Qassam Brigades, O men of Gaza, Gaza of pride and dignity, of courage, heroism and sacrifice. Today, Gaza erases from the Arab-Muslim community the shame of defeat, the shame of acceptance and inaction. You are most grand, O commanders who lead this battle, the battle of the beginning of the Liberation of Al-Quds [Jerusalem], our land, our people and our prisoners held in the jails of the Zionist occupation.
Source : MEMO