By Muhammad Sheikh Yusuf
ISTANBUL (AA) - The Palestinian group Hamas called Sunday for the formation of global alliances to support the resistance forces, expose Israel’s crimes and provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“A strong global alliance must be formed to support the Palestinian resistance and actively engage with it. We are in a phase where traditional approaches are not suitable for action,” said the chief of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, speaking via video link during the Freedom for Palestine conference, which kicked off in Istanbul, Türkiye.
He also called for the formation of the Freedom and Justice Alliance for Palestine to expose the Israeli occupation's crimes as the Palestinian people struggle to achieve freedom.
This alliance, according to Haniyeh, would also aim to break the 17-year siege on the Gaza Strip.
Haniyeh also called for the establishment of a humanitarian alliance to provide relief to Palestinians in the enclave.
“We do not harbor enmity towards Jews. Rather, we oppose the Zionist movement that has occupied our land and displaced our people,” he said.
“We are not advocates of war but seekers of freedom...Hamas remains committed to the unity of the land, people and cause.”
He stressed that Zionism is one of the most dangerous movements known to humanity, combining unprecedented characteristics. It is a racist movement that harbors grudges towards Arabs and Muslims.
Haniyeh noted that Zionism is implementing a colonial project that targets the land, the people and the holy sites throughout Palestine. It is a political, economic, social, cultural, religious and military colonization.
Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv claims killed 1,200 people in Israel.
At least 23,968 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 60,582 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio