Dubai, UAE–Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has called the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip a political victory at a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Doha.
“The ceasefire is a political victory achieved as a result of the success of the resistance forces on the ground. Our enemy killed women, children and other civilians and destroyed their homes, but was never able to achieve its goals,” the ISNA news agency quoted the Hamas leader as saying.
Abdollahian agreed with this assessment of the Israeli army’s performance. “Israel said that the goal of the attack on Gaza was to destroy Hamas, but after more than a month of aggressive military actions, Israel and the US still failed to succeed and had to negotiate with Hamas for a ceasefire and the release of hostages,” the agency quoted the foreign minister as saying.
Abdollahian and Haniyeh met in the Qatari capital on November 23 and discussed the situation in Gaza and the humanitarian ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Earlier in the day, the Iranian foreign minister held talks with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha. During a visit to Beirut on Thursday, Abdollahian met with Secretary General of the Shiite Hizbollah movement Hassan Nasrallah, and representatives of the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.
On November 22, Hamas announced that, with the help of Egypt and Qatar, it had reached a four-day agreement with Israel on a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The agreement calls for the release of 50 women, children, and teenagers under the age of 19 held in the enclave in exchange for 150 women, children, and teenagers under the age of 19 from Israeli prisons. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said that servicemen would remain in positions inside Gaza during the lull in fighting.
