To Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei (may God keep you safe),
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution in our fellow country, the Islamic Republic of Iran,
Salam Alaykum and may God’s mercy and blessings be upon you,
We are pleased here in Palestine in the Islamic Resistance Movement of Hamas to send our greetings to you and express our sincere gratitude to you. We pray for your success and increased victories.
During recent days, you too have seen the pictures of the terrorist, criminal actions of the Zionist regime as the Islamic nation and the whole world have been watching their actions. These crimes are committed against women and men who have been under an oppressive siege in Gaza for 15 years now. The mentioned crimes have been extended to Quds, the West Bank, and the 1948 Lands.
These criminal actions against Palestinians started on the 13th of April, when the Zionist occupiers and settlers assaulted Al-Aqsa Mosque, occupied Quds and the Sheikh Jarrah area. Our nation has put patience on the agenda in its confronting the attacks of the Zionist regime. We in the Islamic Resistance Movement of Hamas also consider giving a decisive response to these attacks to be a duty. Therefore, we have decided to keep you informed about the developments in the Occupied Lands, where the Zionist regime has caused increased tensions.
1. Following the issuance of an oppressive decree for the eviction of 28 Palestinian families, the Zionist occupiers have been trying to follow their strategy of obtaining complete dominance over Quds, the Judaization of Quds and changing the demographic composition of this city with more intensity. They seek to create a Jewish area in occupied Quds.
2. The Zionist occupiers have also accelerated their policy of dividing Al-Aqsa Mosque in time and space, a policy which they have had on the agenda for a long time. Their actions in Bab al-'Amud, which is one of the main doors of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, confirm this fact. The goal pursued by the Zionists in closing Bab al-'Amud is to prohibit Palestinian worshippers from attending Al-Aqsa Mosque and to prevent them from performing religious rituals there.
3. In a provoking action, the Zionists issued a call for wide attacks on the worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the 10 last days of Ramadan. This was to prevent Palestinians from performing the ritual of I’tikaf (religious seclusion) in this mosque.
4. The Zionist military forces brutally attacked Al-Aqsa Mosque on the most blessed nights of Ramadan and viciously assaulted the worshippers and those performing I’tikaf. They showed no mercy to ordinary men and women, the elderly or the youth. In this brutal attack, more than 600 Palestinians were injured inside and outside of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In our consultations with different groups in the region, we have called for immediate measures to be taken and the adoption of a united, assertive Islamic, Arab, and international stance to force the Zionist enemy to stop its crimes against the people of Gaza who are under siege, for them to stop all assaults against the Quds inhabitants and Quds sanctities, and to end all attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestinian worshippers.
Considering the intensified attacks and crimes of the occupying regime against the Palestinian people and sanctities, we have had extensive communications with different camps and groups asking them to prevent any advancement of the crimes and ominous goals of the enemy. We have warned that these crimes will be responded to by the Palestinian nation and Resistance groups. The insistence of the criminal Zionist regime authorities on continuing their attacks on the Palestinian nation, lands and sanctities requires a decisive, legal response by the Resistance movement in the Gaza strip.
However, today the criminal enemy is committing the most brutal crimes 24 hours a day against the people in Gaza using internationally prohibited weapons. They are also committing the most terrible crimes against the demonstrators in Quds, the West Bank and the 1948 Lands. They are heavily bombarding government and security centers, residential areas and the substructures in Gaza. They do not allow food or drugs to reach the Palestinians. They do not even allow gas or electricity to reach them.
At the present time, the Zionist enemy is violently targeting all the demonstrators who show affinity with Quds and Gaza, whether they demonstrate inside the 1948 Occupied Lands or in the West Bank passages. Hundreds of people have been severely wounded as a result of these crimes.
We in the Islamic Resistance Movement of Hamas will keep you informed about the latest developments in the Occupied Lands and inform you about the terrorist crimes of Zionists all across the Occupied Lands, particularly in occupied Quds and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. We emphasize that the leaders of the occupying regime are responsible for the crimes against the Palestinian people.
We demand immediate action in taking a decisive stance regarding these crimes and serious attempts in mobilizing Arab, Islamic and international support in order to force the Zionist enemy to stop its brutal crimes against the Palestinian nation, lands and sanctities in occupied Quds and particularly the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque and to force the occupiers to do the following:
1. Immediately stop its terrorist actions against the Gaza strip.
2. Stop its aggressive actions against occupied Quds and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Stop its Judaization policies and forcing Palestinians out of occupied Quds. We also demand the annulment of all the oppressive decrees that have been passed against occupied Quds and particularly the Sheikh Jarrah area.
3. Take the hands of the Zionist criminals off of Al-Aqsa Mosque and stop their crimes against this holy place so that Palestinian worshippers be allowed to freely access the Al-Aqsa Mosque and perform their religious and Islamic rituals there.
We pray that God will protect you, and we ask Him for the success, growing progress and prosperity of the Islamic Republic. Please accept our sincere greetings and appreciation.
Ismail Haniyeh,
Head of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)
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