Osama Hamdan - Hamas Press Conference (June 29, 2024)

Osama Hamdan: In order to close off the veins of life for more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has further deteriorated the humanitarian crisis which has been ongoing for around nine months, and the cases of starvation as a result of death has become a reality, and it is now taking place in gaza on a daily basis especially in the provinces of gaza and northern gaza my remarks in this press conference will focus on the war of starvation which is being waged by the precious occupation against our people in the gaza strip within the framework of a systematic ongoing policy that has been continuing for nine months and i will conclude my remarks with what the media is talking about american proposals and messages about the negotiations for an end of the aggression and the swap regarding the starvation and the siege on the gaza strip the situation in the gaza strip especially in the provinces of gaza and northern gaza has become a very dire and thousands of martyrs could fall as a result of starvation and the lack of food, water, and the basic necessities of life. The enemy is preventing the aid from coming in. It is even attacking and burning that which comes in, which makes the inhabitants in both provinces, which puts them in a state of starvation. There is no place which is safe, and no basic components of life are available, no food, water, nor medicine. And the UN estimations say that 70% of our people in the Gaza Strip are facing the real or a real danger of dying of starvation. The children in particular suffer from malnutrition and also weak immunity. and various international institutions and organizations have said that our people in the Gaza Strip, who number 2,300,000 people, need 500 trucks of aid at least daily to leave to live at the minimum to remain alive 500 trucks of aid every day in order to provide the minimum of what is required for the people to remain to survive and because this number of trucks is not coming in this means according to these bodies the following that all of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, 2,300,000 today are suffering from a lack of food, suffering from a lack of food security. And also around 350,000 children under five suffer from malnutrition and 50,000 of them suffer from sharp malnutrition and 150,000 women who are pregnant and breastfeed need additional food and need additional assistance in order to prevent malnutrition and experts from 19 agencies affiliated with the UN and four donor countries and their warnings were published on Monday the 15th or the 25th of this month these reports and these institutions warned of the danger of starvation in the Gaza Strip whereby they said that the high dangers of starvation all over Gaza are high in light of the continuation of the war and the restrictions imposed on the aid which is being sent, restrictions imposed by the Zionist occupation. These warnings also said that more than half the Gazan families do not have food. most of the times for the whole day and more than 20 percent of these families spend days and nights complete days and nights without eating any food and these reports also said that around 96 percent of the inhabitants of the gaza strip meaning 1 million 200 000 palestinians are facing high levels of a lack a sharp lack of food security These reports also said that 22% of the inhabitants, meaning around 500,000 Palestinians, face catastrophic levels of lack of food security in the fifth stage, whereby the families are suffering from a sharp lack of food and are starving. according to these reports, and the Zionist entity for around nine months is continuing with this policy of systematic starvation against our people in the Gaza Strip with the aim of preventing their steadfastness and brutal revenge by preventing the humanitarian aid from reaching all over the Gaza Strip, especially in the two provinces, Gaza and northern Gaza. the current policy of the siege and closing the crossings which was imposed by the occupation has led to a crisis in monetary cash and presenting the money from reaching the inhabitants of the strip and this had a big impact on the emergency aid efforts and the ability of people to buy what they need from the aid and it's also deepened the crisis of salvation in Gaza. And now I'll refer to the punitive measures which are resorted to by the Nazi occupation in order to obstruct the aid from reaching the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. First of all, it imposes a complete military siege, which takes the form of mass punishment. The occupation controls all of the land, sea and air entries and prevents the aid and the food from entering second of all it results to systematic savage destruction of all of the roads and the installations the el the energy installations and sewage system and also the water installations to even prevent the palestinian people from drinking water number three it is further intensifying its attacks on the emergency aid workers and those who are responsible for sending the aid, social figures and heads of municipalities and institutions and associations and emergency committees. And during these attacks, tens of martyrs have fallen. The Zionist occupation killed 364,000 of those who work in the health sector. and 165,000 of those who work in the humanitarian sector from the UN, and eight who work in the humanitarian sector with the United Nations or with the non-governmental organizations. The occupation fascist government is also denying the reports from those humanitarian organizations, which makes the aid distribution and the aid process to be a very dangerous process. 4. It is preventing there being a safe place in the Gaza Strip. There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip, and the Nazi occupation army issued to the inhabitants various orders to move to the so-called safe areas. However, It has not been proven that any of these areas are safe as the occupation army attacked these areas time and again and killed hundreds of those who resorted to these zones. Finally, in these measures, regarding humanitarian missions, the occupation is preventing anyone from reaching the Gaza province and northern Gaza and various humanitarian missions are being identified by the different organizations emergency aid workers are arrested at the military checkpoints these measures together represent a developed image of the detention centers and the nazi genocide which the world witnessed during world war ii Together, they are worse. The occupation is transforming Gaza, all of it today, into a Nazi detention center. And what happened in World War II will become easy compared to what they're doing. In light of these facts and these reports and figures issued by UN agencies and humanitarian agencies and rights agencies which underscore and agree regarding the danger of a humanitarian situation in all of the Gaza Strip, and most of the inhabitants in Gaza reaching the cliff or reaching close to starvation and the sick and women and children, what they suffer from is also starvation and the lack of food and medicine and other aid, we underscore the following. First of all, we consider the policy of starvation to be one of the methods one of the cruelest methods of war being pursued by design occupation in its aggression against the Gaza Strip. And this policy takes target or targets the innocent civilians and is considered to be a war crime according to international law, including the Geneva Convention. Number two, the occupation by pursuing these policies is trying to put pressure on our people in the Gaza Strip to break their will. by starving them and humiliating them in an attempt to impose alternatives which are consistent with the policies of the occupation in managing the lives of the civilians and this is what was announced by the terrorist war minister you are gallant which is the policy that was for thwarted and our people will continue to thwart these policies as a result of the legendary steadfastness and perseverance god willing number three the zionist energy minister israel katz announced on the first day of the aggression that tel aviv cut off water and electricity and fuel from the Gaza Strip and will not restore this except after the return of the Israeli prisoners to their homes, as he said. And this was a clear, frank confession of the occupation government pursuing the policy of causing thirst and starvation, using this as a weapon ever since the start of the aggression. This Zionist policy which is being pursued by the fascist occupation government is one of the means of genocide and one of the means of revenge and mass punishment against our people in the Gaza Strip. in addition to the massacres and the killings and the ongoing bombardment against the civilians and the unarmed people in their homes and suburbs and even in the refugee camps. Number four, the weapon of starvation is a systematic crime whereby the occupation government is defying all laws and all agreements. It is even defying the decisions of the International Court of Justice which were issued recently and stated or stressed the necessity of aid entering into the Strip immediately. 5. The leaders of the world failing in preventing the starvation in Gaza is something disappointing and also a shame. on them and a shame on mankind. The catastrophic situation which the people of Gaza are witnessing and the starvation which has spread throughout the Strip represents a clear and real failure when it comes to the human and ethical values which all countries that support the occupation had focused on and had chanted slogans about and who are accomplices in this brutal war, especially the US. Number six. The policy of starvation pursued by the fascist occupation government against our heroic prisoners has also escalated. It's not only against the people of Gaza. In an unprecedented manner, ever since the war criminal Ben Ghafir reached his post, or was assigned to his post, who brags without any shame that he is limiting the amount of food and the kind of food which is given to the prisoners and he says that this is taking place in order to deter the prisoners in a blatant violation of international humanitarian laws and international laws of human rights and the Geneva Conventions and also the rights of the prisoners and rights reports and UN reports have also revealed of horrific cases of starving those who are taken in prison or those who are detained, especially in the Gaza Strip, by limiting the aid, the amount of food and the quality of food which is given to them. And the whole world witnessed various images of the prisoners and those who have held captive, who have lost weight significantly after months. imprisoned some of them lost 60 percent of their weight number seven the american administration and its political officials starting with president biden they take direct responsibility politically ethically legally and humanitarianly for the grave humanitarian situation of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the dangerous starvation which has expanded to include all of the Gaza Strip because of the lies of this administration and its deception of the public opinion regarding the real nature of the genocidal war and the starvation and the thirst in the Gaza Strip on the one hand and on the other hand it continuing to cover the Zionist crimes. and providing the occupation and its criminal army with military, political and diplomatic support in order to continue with the genocide and the choking siege on the unarmed civilians in the Strip. And within this framework, we have to underscore that the Pierre which was built by the American administration on the coastline of the Gaza Strip was only propaganda and cheap political show in order to save face for this administration which is an accomplice with the occupation in killing and imposing siege and starving our people. And this, Pierre, will not solve the problem of the lack of food. rather the level of starvation has increased with the presence of this peer not to mention it being used in measures which have nothing to do with anything but the aggression against our people number three the hamas movement in light of the rise in the cases of those dying of starvation and the dire need to provide all forms of food medicine and water, and in light of the horrific images of what our people are being subject to who stand with set fast within the Gaza Strip, we underscore the following, the horrific and painful images of starvation and the number of deaths as a result of the starvation and the lack of medicine. This must shake the conscience of all the leaders of the countries of the world and force them to raise their voice and to stop remaining silent and take practical steps which force the occupation to stop this Nazi policy. and to take urgent action to provide emergency aid for our people and to prevent them being starved by the occupation. We also underscore the necessity for the rights and international organizations to take their humanitarian, legal and ethical responsibility and not to bow down to the blackmailing and the dictates of the occupation and its supporters and to take action to put all forms of pressure at all levels in order to implement its tasks and its emergency programs to support our people who are being subject to the ugliest crime of starvation and genocide in modern history. and maybe even in the history of mankind the situation in gaza cannot continue in this way and the international community must take urgent action in order to put an end to the sufferings of our people and to also put an end to this ongoing crime and here we underscore on the necessity for the leaders of the world to take up their humanitarian responsibilities to stop the genocide in the gaza strip we also call on the international community and all of the organizations institutions to put pressure on the zionist occupation to open all of the crossings with the gaza strip and we are astonished by the international silence in light of the closing of these crossings to the aid for more than two million palestinian citizens in the gaza strip and here in particular we underscore the necessity to quickly go ahead and open the rafa crossing and to force the occupation to immediately withdraw from this crossing this crossing was and will remain palestinian egyptian only and there will be no military or security or any other forms of authority for the occupation or occupation or any other authority affiliated the occupation in this location we look to our islamic and arab debt to take effective and urgent action at all levels political diplomatic media and humanitarian and rights levels as well and to take bold measures to support and provide aid to our people and to break all of the restrictions imposed by the occupation and it supports the american administration and some western countries and to force the occupation to open the rafah crossing and to allow the aid carrying food and other humanitarian aid to assist our people in the strip and prevent them from dying as a result of starvation or thirst or illness and here we must extend our deep thanks to the Charity organizations, humanitarian organizations support Palestine in our Arab and Islamic world and also in the whole world because of the efforts they are pursuing and we call on them to further intensify their efforts and their urgent initiatives to enhance all forms of donations and aid in order to save our people in Gaza and to thwart the policy of the occupation that aims to kill our people. by starvation and thirst this is related to the starvation and the siege or the polish starvation and siege and pushing the people towards starvation and i think that this issue will not be accepted and we won't allow the starvation of our people to continue when it comes to the negotiations About what is being said today in the media, the messages and the American messages and proposals regarding the talks to put an end to the aggression and to proceed with a swap, we clarify the following. First of all, the real stance of the prime minister of the Zionist entity and his extremist government is still one of maneuvering and also running away from the requirements of the agreement they still refuse to recognize the necessity of a permanent ceasefire nor that they accept a complete withdrawal from the gaza strip and this is what the prime minister of the zionist entity mentioned frankly in a recent interview with the zionist channel 14. number two We are following with sorrow the stance of the American administration which insists on holding the Hamas movement responsible for obstructing reaching an agreement despite Hamas welcoming what came in Biden's speech whereby he underscored a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal and reconstruction and a swap. And despite Hamas also welcoming the Security Council resolution in this regard, and the whole world did not hear any approval or any welcoming from any official in the occupation government, neither in Biden's remarks nor in the Security Council resolution. Everything that was mentioned in this regard was mentioned by American officials only. within the framework of promoting what Biden said. And this proves that his administration continues to play the role of an accomplice in the crime of genocide against our people. And hence, we can say... that there is nothing really new in the negotiations to end the aggression up until this moment and what is being said about the American administration this is part of the different forms of pressures being practiced on the movement Hamas in order to agree to the Israeli document as it is without any amendments and also in an attempt to improve the image of this administration the ugly image we underscore once again that we in the Hamas movement are ready to deal positively with any formula which guarantees first and foremost and directly a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from the gaza strip and a real prisoner swap in conclusion In light of the images of pain and thirst, and also the images of people gathering to get food and water in the Gaza Strip, we remind our Ummah of what our Messenger, Muhammad, may peace be upon him and his family and his companions. no one believed in me who is not suffering from hunger and his neighbors they're suffering from hunger and we wonder after around nine months have passed since the beginning of the zionist aggression and the genocidal war which is being committed against our people in the gaza strip Is our Ummah, is it still not aware that their people and their neighbors in the Gaza Strip are dying of thirst and starvation and are searching for the most basic necessities that would allow them to remain alive? And they've been subject to a siege for more than 17 years. Despite all of these pains, we only say that we rely on God. God will give us, He and His messenger. We want God. We rely on God. and we also underscore with insistence and faith confident in the victory from God that the ongoing Zionist war of starvation which is continuing with brutality will not break the will of our Palestinian jihadi people nor will it break the will of our people who are standing with stepfathers in the Gaza Strip and we shall continue as a people and resistance with our stepfathers and our jihad and God willing we will defeat our enemy and in gaza we will witness a close or a near victory and a return an expulsion of the occupation and its nazist army immortality and also we pray for our martyrs we pray for the mortality of our martyrs the martyrs of our resistance the martyrs of the supportive battlefronts in lebanon yemen and iraq and on the path to liberating our courts and a speedy recovery for the wounded and also a liberation soon for our prisoners and a victory also for our people and our resistance and the resistance of our ummah, God willing. And God in the end decides, but most people do not know. Jihad will lead to either victory or martyrdom and may peace be upon you all. The answer is up until this moment, we're hearing this in the media. Nothing has been handed over. The last proposal which was handed over was on the 24th of June. And this proposal until now, does not fulfill a complete end of the aggression or a complete withdrawal of the occupation from the gaza strip and so we said clearly and this remains a stance with our stance without this being achieved any documents being submitted is a waste of time and giving more time for the occupation in order to commit genocide against our people and an attempt on the part of the American administration to save itself. And we believe that Biden thinks that him continuing with supporting Israel will have a negative impact on the elections, on his situation or his chances for reelection and on the Democratic Party. So he's searching for a formula which will be accepted by the occupation, does not achieve what the Palestinians want and saves face. And this is something which we cannot accept. The answer is the Palestinian people have been suffering from occupation for 75 years, and the occupation is the one which is prolonging the crisis. And to be objective, some people wonder, can anything be done? The only thing which should be done is to end the occupation. Before, some from our people signed an agreement with Israel, the famous Oslo agreement in 1993, and the commitment was for negotiations for five years and then a Palestinian state will be established. Here we are after 31 years. What has happened? Israel yesterday started measures of dismantling the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. And everything this authority did, the security coordination, ongoing talks, and also responding to all of the Israeli dictates and the settlements, increasing or expanding settlements, the only solution lies in ending the occupation. The Palestinian people cannot accept this occupation continuing to exist in any case. And our experience, where the occupation says it only understands one language the language of steadfastness perseverance and resistance what is strange is that the world is calling on the palestinians who are the ones being killed are calling on them to make concessions And at the same time, they don't prevent the Israelis who are killing them from killing them. Reuters, for example, yesterday published a report saying that the American administration now provided the occupation during a course of nine months with 14,000 bombs, MK-84. weighing 2,000 pounds. Why was Israel provided with these weapons? In order to kill the Palestinians. And the American administration says to the Palestinians, you must accept you were killed with our weapons on the hands of the Israelis and you have to make concessions so that you won't be killed. 3,000 hellfire. ground to or air to ground missiles while were they provided to israel if there indeed was a will to end this occupation so that's why i say the solution lies in ending the occupation this is what we're striving to achieve our sacrifice what our people tolerated the price must be freedom and not giving concessions from the palestinian people or from its leaders these reports are unfortunate and i call on the people of these countries i call on them to take a serious stance in front of god almighty and to prevent this food aid from reaching the entity and to block the roads and this can also take place in a civil or by civil methods, everybody knows, the occupation must understand that it is unaccepted in this region and that it continuing with its crimes makes its ongoing presence more difficult and also more short-term. Thank you very much.