Abu Obaida on October 7 anniversary: ِ”Al-Aqsa Flood” a preemptive blow to Israeli enemy

The spokesperson of Hamas’ armed wing gave a televised address on the anniversary marking one year of the US-backed Israeli genocide across West Asia.

October 08, 2024 by Aseel Saleh
Hamas spokesperson Abu Obaida giving a televised address on October 7 anniversary. Photo: Screenshot

Abu Obaida, the spokesperson of Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, delivered a televised speech commemorating the first anniversary of October 7 attacks, also known as “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”. The speech marked the first televised appearance of Abu Obaida after three months of absence amid speculations about his status, following a series of assassinations carried out by Israel against resistance leaders in West Asia during the last few months.

“One year has passed since the most professional commando operation in history, in which we dealt a major preemptive blow to the enemy, shaking the enemy and changing the face of the region,” Abu Obaida said at the beginning of his speech. With these words, Abu Obaida described “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, which started on October 7 in order to prevent Israel from liquidating the Palestinian cause. He describes that this Operation has continued with steadfast fighting by the Palestinian resistance groups, and regional support fronts to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza.

Before “Al-Aqsa Flood”

The iconic masked resistance leader, Abu Obaida, pointed out in his speech that Al-Qassam Brigades carried out “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7 as a “preemptive strike” in response to what he described as a major impending “Israeli offensive”. “We hit the enemy with a major preemptive strike after the enemy reached the final stages of planning a major offensive against the resistance in Gaza,” Abu Obaida said.

The statement of Abu Obaida was echoed by Hamas leader abroad Khaled Meshal, who said on Monday that “Al-Aqsa flood” was a response to “the escalation of crimes of torture against prisoners, and the increasing pressure on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Before it, Al-Aqsa was on the verge of demolition, Judaization was surrounding Jerusalem, and plans to displace the people of the West Bank to Jordan were accelerating to create a new crisis in the region.”

“Al-Aqsa Flood” in brief

ِAbu Obaida’s also reflected on the year of genocidal war carried out by the Israeli occupation war machine against Palestinians and people in the region, that has been fueled by unlimited military, financial, and political support by the United States and its allies. The Israeli genocide that has already claimed tens of thousands of lives in the Gaza strip, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, he explained, is executed on the pretext of trying to secure the release of around 240 Israeli captives taken by Hamas during October 7 attacks. The pretext has been contradicted by Israel itself, after reports showed that Israel killed its own people with the “Hannibal directive” on October 7.

In the last year, Israel has intensified and expanded its level of brutal violence and crimes across the region. Since October 7, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have carried out massacres of civilians on a daily basis, arrested thousands of Palestinians, brutally tortured prisoners including multiple recorded instances of gang rape, assassinated top resistance leaders in the region, and breached the sovereignty of other countries.

In this year, Israel carried out a series of unprecedented cyber terrorist attacks in Lebanon, and employed warplanes to launch airstrikes in the occupied West Bank for the first time in two decades, as part of its largest operation there since 2002. Israel has committed these war crimes, and crimes against humanity relentlessly in full view of the world, ignoring uninterrupted international calls for ceasefire and deescalation, while also insisting on dragging the region into an all-out war.

Achievements of Palestinian resistance and support fronts despite the unequal battle

Abu Obaida asserted that although the resistance groups and brigades in the Gaza strip are still fighting in an unequal battle against a “criminal enemy that does not hesitate to commit every crime,” the operations carried out by the resistance have been draining Israel’s security and defense capabilities, inflicting economic losses, and forcing Israeli settlers into displacement.

The Al-Qassam spokesperson praised the multiple resistance fronts in the region including Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon, which have fought Israel to support the people of Gaza, and highlighted their influence on “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”. “Frontlines around Palestine are ablaze, fighting alongside our people, supporting them, and directly battling the enemy, inflicting significant losses,” Abu Obaida said. He also hailed the waves of retaliatory aerial attacks launched by Iran against Israel during the past year, which have “inflicted huge economic losses upon the Zionist enemy.”

Abu Obaida also praised Jordanian national Maher Al-Jazi who launched an attack at the Israel-Jordanian border crossing in September, and the Palestinians from the West Bank, who carried out the shooting attack in Tel Aviv on October 2, emphasizing the impact of such attacks on Israel.

Calls for more support and employment of electronic warfare

As Israel has used sophisticated technology to carry out its operations and crimes across the region, Abu Obaida called on electronic warfare experts to carry out “the largest cyberattack against the enemy,” he also urged the “scholars of the Ummah to move beyond the stage of verbal condemnation.” “Are you waiting for the news that Al-Aqsa Mosque will be demolished? O Muslims, everyone has a duty now,” Abu Obaida said.

Destiny of Israeli captives and continuity of fight

Abu Obaida addressed the Israeli people in his speech holding their Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for the destiny of their captives in the Gaza Strip. “You could have recovered your captives a year ago, but Netanyahu continues to refuse,” he said. Abu Obaida also emphasized that “the risks to the enemy’s captives in Gaza grow day by day” due to the ongoing Israeli aggression on the besieged strip. Meanwhile, the Al-Qassam spokesperson affirmed that the Palestinian resistance in Gaza has developed its capabilities in a way that enables it “to continue a long and painful war of attrition” against the Israeli Occupation Forces.