Military expert, retired Major General Muhammad Al-Samadi, said that the resistance’s bombing of the Gaza-enveloping settlements after 424 days carries political and military messages, and confirms its possession of a strategic reserve stock of missile arsenal.
Al-Sammadi explained – in his speech to Al-Jazeera – that the resistance possesses arc missiles, short-range “Rajum” type missiles, or mortar shells.
Al-Sammadi’s speech came after the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced on Monday that it had bombed the Nirim and Third Eye settlements in the Gaza Strip with a number of 114 mm “Rajum” rockets.
On the other hand, Israeli Channel 12 reported that air defenses intercepted a missile launched from the city of Khan Yunis (south of the Gaza Strip) towards the Gaza Strip.
According to the military expert, the Rajum missiles carry an explosive warhead estimated at between 2 and 3 kilograms, and their range reaches 9 kilometers.
Regarding the significance of the bombing, Al-Sammadi said that Al-Qassam sent a message stating that there is no hope for the return of residents of the settlements around the Gaza Strip “unless a ceasefire is achieved and a truce is reached with the resistance in Gaza.”
He pointed out that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is determined that Hamas will not return to ruling Gaza, and the necessity of completely destroying its military and governmental capabilities, relying on the losses suffered by the resistance and the ability of the occupation army to sever the Gaza Strip and move freely in it.
The military expert added that the Israeli bets have proven to be a failure, stressing that it is impossible to achieve these goals in light of the resistance’s ability to continue and inflict losses, “albeit at a slower pace, and not over a period of weeks and months only.”
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted an informed source as saying, “Israel is ready for a ceasefire in order to recover the prisoners, not to end the war, and there is a possibility of reaching a deal regarding the hostages before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.”
The same newspaper quoted sources as saying that the heads of the security establishment and the negotiating team made it clear to Netanyahu that the time had come to conclude a deal, noting that the negotiating team’s message was that Israel needed to make painful concessions and the time had come to turn the page on the war in Gaza.