Hamas Archives - Page 7 of 24

Stop Spewing ‘Fanatical Bulls…’ Rashida Tlaib Tells Trump

CrossFireArabia
February 5, 2025

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Tuesday denounced President Donald Trump’s recent controversial proposal for Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, saying: “Palestinians aren’t going anywhere.”

“This president can only spew this fanatical bulls because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing. It’s time for my two-state solution colleagues to speak up,” Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, wrote on X.

Palestinian-American U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib: "Palestinians aren't going anywhere. This president [Trump] can only spew this fanatical bullshit because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing. It's time for my two-state solution… pic.twitter.com/gX8syzXHeD
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 5, 2025

Earlier, rebuffing Trump’s comments on Gaza during a Monday White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Tlaib said the president is “openly calling for ethnic cleansing while sitting next to a genocidal war criminal.”

“He’s perfectly fine cutting off working Americans from federal funds while the funding to the Israeli government continues flowing,” she added, referring to Trump’s federal funding freeze ordered last week.

During his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump suggested that Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians from Gaza, calling the enclave a demolition site and uninhabitable.

He later doubled down on his proposal at a press conference with Netanyahu, saying the US “will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” according to Anadolu.

“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, (and) create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” Trump said as reported in the Turkish Anadolu news website.

Jordan, Egypt, and other regional players strongly rejected the proposal, while both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas condemned Trump’s remarks and rejected any attempt to displace Palestinians from their homeland.

Hamas called Trump’s proposal “a recipe for generating chaos and tension,” adding: “Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass.”

Forcibly displacing a population without justification under international law constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

News

Letter to My Captives

CrossFireArabia
February 2, 2025

Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, has released a letter written by Israeli-American prisoner Keith Siegel before his release. Siegel, 65, was freed on Saturday as part of the fourth phase of a prisoner exchange deal.

In the letter, published on Al-Qassam’s Telegram channel along with an Arabic translation, Siegel described his conditions in captivity. He stated that his guards ensured he had food, water, medicine, and vitamins.

Former Israeli captive Keith Siegel sent a message to the resistance fighters who were with him during his detention in Gaza before his release in yesterday's prisoner exchange deal. pic.twitter.com/znZYorO4dV
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 2, 2025

Keith Siegel noted that when he fell ill, Al-Qassam fighters provided him with a doctor. They also brought him food that suited his health needs, including a vegetarian diet without oil.

He thanked his captors for their care throughout his time in Gaza since October 7, 2023. He also criticized the Israeli government, saying it failed to secure a deal to bring prisoners home and end the war. “This led to many casualties and more harm to both sides,” he wrote.

On Saturday, Al-Qassam also released a video of Siegel speaking in Arabic, thanking his captors before his release.

News

Hamas Calls Trump ‘Displacement Statement’ as ‘Absurd, Meaningless’

CrossFireArabia
February 1, 2025

The Palestinian Hamas, Saturday, slammed the repeated US statements on displacing Palestinians from Gaza as “absurd and meaningless.”

In a statement, Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas leader, said the “plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza are absurd and meaningless,” stressing: “What the Israeli occupation failed to achieve by force, will not be accomplished through political maneuvers.”

“The repeated US announcements on displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip under the pretext of its reconstruction reflect a persistent complicity in the crime,” Abu Zuhri said according to Anadolu.

The Hamas leader considered the US administration’s insistence on the displacement plans for Gaza’s Palestinians as “a recipe for further chaos and tension in the region.”

On Friday, US President Donald Trump said he is “confident” Egypt and Jordan would take Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, stressing and affirming previous statements on the issue.

“I heard somebody said they’re not going to, but I think they will. I feel confident they will,” Trump said from the Oval Office.

Trump doubled down Thursday on his controversial proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, insisting that Egypt and Jordan would comply, despite their repeated rejections.

“They will do it. They will do it. They’re going to do it, okay? We do a lot for them, and they’re going to do it,” Trump told reporters when asked if he would consider measures to pressure Cairo and Amman to accept his plan.

Trump suggested over the weekend to “clean out” Gaza and resettle Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan, describing the enclave as a “demolition site” after Israel’s genocidal war.

The two countries, however, vehemently rejected any call for the displacement or relocation of Palestinians from their land.

Trump’s proposal came after a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending the Israeli war, that has killed more than 47,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

Trump’s proposal has received widespread condemnation, with critics calling it “ethnic cleansing” and a “war crime.” Many countries in the Muslim and Arab world as well as European nations such as France have firmly rejected the idea.

Analyses

Through Its Prisoner Handover, Hamas Shows Strength – Expert

CrossFireArabia
February 1, 2025

Military and strategic expert Nidal Abu Zeid said the scenes of the handing over of the three Israeli prisoners, Saturday, were more disciplined and organized and carried many messages that the Palestinian resistance wanted to send to the Israeli occupation as part of the superiority it achieved in the battle of image and media.

Abu Zeid added to Jordan 24 the handover took place in two locations in the north and center of the Gaza Strip, which indicates the continuing strength of leadership and control of the resistance even after Hamas announced the martyrdom of seven of the first-rank leaders of the Qassam Brigades.

He pointed out this indicated that the Palestinian resistance also succeeded in overcoming the crisis of its organizational structure as well as in replacing its leaders who were killed in Israel.

Abu Zeid pointed out the black jeep that appeared during the handover of the two prisoners in Khan Yunis is one of the occupation army vehicles the resistance seized during its military operations there. This is in addition to the scenes of weapons carried by the resistance fighters during the handover, such as the Uzi and Scorpion, which are weapons of the elite units of the Israeli occupation forces.

He explained the place of handover in Khan Younis and the background pictures of leaders Mohammed Deif, the Hamas military chief and Rafeh Salama on the platform, shows the symbolism of the city, as the birthplace of Deif and leader Salama who led the Khan Younis Brigade, and both were martyred in an operation by the Israeli occupation in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis.

This is in addition to the symbolism of handing over one of the prisoners who holds American citizenship in the Gaza port near the area where the American side tried to establish the sea pier but miserably failed and ended in losing millions of dollars.

Abu Zeid pointed out the resistance is still superior in the battle of the image and the media it broadcasts through scenes of handing over prisoners within messages related to the capabilities of the resistance and decoding some of the symbols of the signals through which it wants to prove its capabilities and the fact it is able to continue, whether through the diplomatic dimension and negotiations or a return to the military operational dimension.

News

Hamas Releases Three Israeli Hostages

CrossFireArabia
February 1, 2025

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, Saturday handed over three Israeli hostages in two locations in the Gaza Strip to the International Committee of the Red Cross as part of the ongoing prisoner exchange deal.

According to an Anadolu correspondent, two Israeli hostages – Ofer Calderon and Yarden Bibas – were handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

GAZA EXCHANGE: Today Hamas has handed over 3 Israeli hostages in Gaza to Red Cross, two are U.S. citizens.

Waving to the crowds, Ofer Calderon and Yarden Bibas – were handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The third Israeli captive, Samuel Siegel, who… pic.twitter.com/zJEm76qOWj
— 5Pillars (@5Pillarsuk) February 1, 2025

The third Israeli captive, Samuel Siegel, who also holds US citizenship, was handed over to representatives of the Red Cross in the Gaza City seaport by the Al-Qassam Brigades.

The Palestinian group confirmed handing over the three Israeli captives, including a US-Israeli dual national, in Gaza in exchange for the release of a new batch of the “heroic prisoners from occupation’s prisons.”

Hamas also said that despite harsh conditions in Gaza, the Al-Qassam Brigades offered required health care to captives.

Separately, the Israeli army confirmed that the three hostages were handed over to the army by the Red Cross, and were taken to Israel.

Keith Samuel Siegel is finally free!

We never gave up on Keith! pic.twitter.com/Cg90Z0lZRn
— Censored Voice (@MyCensoredVoice) February 1, 2025

According to an Anadolu correspondent, the transfer took place amid significant presence of Palestinians.

Members of Al-Qassam Brigades were also heavily deployed in the area to oversee the transfer, the correspondent added.

The Red Cross vehicles, which arrived in Khan Younis and Gaza City earlier in the day, facilitated the handover as per the terms agreed for today’s exchange.

This marks the latest stage in the multi-phase swap deal between Hamas and Israel which has seen the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages and soldiers.

The exchange process has been taking place under international mediation efforts.

Following their release, the Israeli side is expected to release later in the day 183 Palestinians from Israeli jails, including 111 arrested by the Israeli army in Gaza after Oct. 7, 2023, according to an earlier statement by the Hamas-run Prisoners’ Information Office.