Hamas: Palestinian resistance won through steadfastness against Israel

In a first reaction to the month-long ceasefire with Israel that started earlier on Tuesday, Hamas said that Palestinian resistance had achieved a military triumph over Israel when it "withstood the arsenal of Zionist terrorism, steadfast defending (Palestinian) people and inflicting heavy losses on the enemy." "We stand in awe of and reverence for the great sacrifices and heroism manifested by the Palestinian people who acted together with the resistance," Hamas said in a statement issued today entitled "Pride and victory - people making victory." It noted that the Palestinian resistance "rendered the aggression failure" and shocked the Israelis with its capabilities and developed weapons.
The resistance was also steadfast politically "defending its principles and the constants of the Palestinian people, realizing their demands, namely ending the siege" on Gaza.
According to the statement, the resistance managed to "scandalize the enemy revealing through audio and video shots, achievements of the resistance men." Palestinians also won morally when they only targeted Israeli soldiers and officers, at the time when the "occupation army targeted innocent civilians." Hamas, in the meantime, thanked the Arab and Muslim countries that supported the Palestinian people and voiced their demands, pressing for stopping the aggression.
Meanwhile, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Palestine in a joint statement expressed gratitude to Egypt for sponsoring the indirect negotiations that led to halting the aggression, ending the siege and opening the crossings.
In the statement issued in Cairo, the two movements underlined the deep ties between the Egyptian and the Palestinian peoples, urging more efforts to counter the challenges facing both.