Palestinian Factions: October 7 Was a Response to Zionist Crimes

The Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip held an important national meeting today, Saturday, October 5, 2024, on the first anniversary of the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood and the Sacred Crossing on the glorious seventh of October, in the context of the genocide war waged by the zionist Nazi occupation against our Palestinian and Lebanese people and the people of our Arab and Islamic nation.

The zionist occupation continues to commit the most heinous acts of killing, starvation, displacement, and systematic destruction in all aspects of life in Gaza in its aggression against the Palestinian people. It continues settlement expansion, ongoing incursions, field assassinations, and the lawlessness of settlers in the occupied West Bank. It also persists in Judaizing Al-Quds and erasing the Palestinian presence in our eternal capital. The occupation changes the religious and geographic reality of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque through incursions, temporal and spatial control, and calls from occupation leaders to establish a Jewish synagogue there. It practices racial discrimination against our people in occupied Palestinian lands, and carries out torture and fascist behavior against our free prisoners in the occupation’s prisons. In light of this situation, we, the Palestinian factions, affirm the following:

1. We extend our greetings to our heroic Palestinian people and their steadfast, proud resistance, who, through their perseverance and steadfastness, have thwarted the occupation’s plans and its liquidation projects aimed at Palestinian identity and existence. We also extend our greetings to the souls of our noble martyrs and our free prisoners, and we wish a speedy recovery to our brave wounded.

2. The blessed Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood on the glorious seventh of October brought about a strategic shift in the struggle with the zionist occupation and revealed its true nature to the entire world. It came as a natural response to the crimes of the criminal occupation against our Palestinian people and to confront the projects and plans of the zionist occupation and its supporters. Resistance continues as a legitimate right to achieve freedom and establish a free Palestinian state with Al-Quds as its capital. We reassure our people that the resistance, in all its wings, is in good health and is in high and continuous coordination on all fronts and combat axes.

3. The Palestinian people are the only ones entitled to determine their fate for the day after the war. This issue is only to be discussed at the Palestinian table, and any ideas or attempts to create an alternative administration outside of national consensus and the decision of the Palestinian people will be treated as an extension of the zionist occupation. We highly appreciate and value the stance of the components of our national and vibrant people, who reject the projects and plans of the occupation.

4. We affirm that there is no agreement or deal except by achieving the demands of our people: ending the aggression, complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, opening the crossings, breaking the siege, reconstruction, and reaching a serious prisoner exchange deal.

5. We call upon our people, our resistance, and our communities in the West Bank, Al-Quds, occupied Palestinian lands, and all fronts and fields to escalate comprehensive resistance, with armed resistance at the forefront. We urge greater involvement in the blessed Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood to stop the genocide war, protect Al-Aqsa Mosque from temporal and spatial control, halt the Judaization of Al-Quds, curb the settler savagery, end racial discrimination against our people in the occupied interior, and stop the inhumane treatment of our free prisoners.

6. We call upon the people of our Arab and Islamic nation, scholars, religious figures, Arab tribes, unions, popular movements, parties, and factions everywhere to take immediate and urgent action in all fields, cities, and capitals. Targeting the interests of the occupation and its supporters, inrevenge for the blood of the Palestinian and Lebanese people, is essential. This is also necessary to exert pressure to stop the genocide war and hold the zionist occupation accountable for its crimes.

7. We call for holding an inclusive national dialogue as a continuation of the outcomes of the Moscow and Beijing meetings, to achieve the aspirations of our people in liberating their land and establishing the Palestinian state with Al-Quds as its capital.

8. We extend our greetings to the heroes of our proud resistance in the cities and refugee camps of the West Bank, who are rising against the aggression, tyranny, and zionist terrorism. We congratulate them on their heroic operations and call on them to continue escalating the resistance, holding the occupation and its settler gangs accountable for their crimes and aggression against our people. We also extend our greetings to the fronts that support our people, who have inscribed their names in the bright side of history.