Hamas celebrates its 35th anniversary since its founding in the Gaza Strip

The Islamic Hamas movement marked on Wednesday the 35th anniversary of its establishment. 

On this occasion, Hamas held a mass festival in the city of Gaza within the besieged coastal enclave with thousands of its supporters, senior leaders and representatives of other Palestinian factions. 

 During the festival, dubbed, "We will come with a roaring flood," Yahya Al-Sinwar, the Hamas' senior leader in Gaza, said in his speech that "our intelligence estimates indicate that in 2023 we will be facing major national challenges, after the fascist right's rise to power in Israel."

He stressed that his movement fully agrees with anyone who uses weapons to confront the Israeli occupation, further saying, "the next Zionist government threatens to accelerate the Judaisation of Jerusalem and the assault on the prisoners."

"The Arab peoples in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar affirmed their support for Palestine and Jerusalem and their rejection of what is called Israel and normalisation," he noted. 

"Our prisoners in occupation prisons are the keys to stability in the region," he added. "They are not the weakest link, but rather they are the subject of a national consensus."

"We [in Hamas] give the occupation a limited time to complete the prisoner exchange deal, otherwise, we will close the file of the four enemy prisoners forever, and we will find another way to liberate our prisoners," Al-Sinwar warned. 

He announced that Hamas conducted several rounds of secret negotiations regarding an exchange of prisoners but the talks stalled due to the Israeli elections.

He mentioned the relations between his movement and its rival Fatah movement, noting, "We never strategically disagreed with the Fatah movement when it was raising the banner of armed struggle, and we only differed over the settlement path."

He called on the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority's leadership to implement the decisions of the Central Council, the foremost of which is to end the security coordination with Israel.

"Unfortunately, we noticed that the campaign of arrests in the West Bank is an indication that the security coordination leadership is continuing in this dark tunnel," he said, demanding the PA stop its security coordination with Israel and agree on a plan to resist "the fascist occupation government."

On December 14 of each year, Hamas celebrates the anniversary of its founding by organising performances for its military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as well as public marches, exhibitions, and speeches.

For his part, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the political bureau of Hamas, said in a recorded speech broadcast during the festival that "such a huge number of Gazans who attend the festival confirmed that our people are declaring and renewing their commitment and steadfastness on the line of resistance."