Islamic Jihad warns Israel of violating ceasefire deal

Abu Hamza, a spokesman for the al-Quds Brigades, made the remarks in a video statement broadcast by Qatar-based Arabic-language Al Jazeera television news network on Friday, hours after a provisional truce put a halt on nearly 50 days of Israeli aggression on Gaza.

“The Brigades will be committed to stopping military and missile operations as long as the Israeli occupation is committed to,” Abu Hamza said, stressing, “Any violation will be met with an appropriate response.”

The spokesman said the al-Quds Brigades had bombarded towns in the occupied territories with hundreds of rockets and mortar shells over the past 48 days.

"We will not raise the white flag and we will only emerge victorious from the battle," he said, adding, “The resistance will not leave the [Palestinian] prisoners in the hands of the usurpers, and we will not abandon this battle until we achieve our goals."

Abu Hamza underlined that the occupied West Bank "was and remains an integral part of the battle to defend Arab and Islamic honor."

The spokesman for the military wing of the Islamic Jihad also pointed to the retaliatory attacks by the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah on the occupied territories.

"The Islamic resistance in Lebanon is directing concentrated and deadly strikes at the enemy," Abu Hamza said, warning that, “What is going to unfold is greater,” as he praised "the honorable resistance in Iraq and Yemen."

Al-Jazeera had earlier reported of "intense shooting" by Israeli forces east of Khan Younis and Rafah after a four-day ceasefire went into effect on Friday morning, saying two Palestinians were killed and another was wounded by Israeli soldiers shooting at hundreds of people who tried to return to the north of the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Qatari-mediated truce would see the exchange of captives and the delivery of relief aid to the Gaza Strip over a span of four days.

Under the terms of the agreement, for every Israeli captive released, there will be three Palestinian prisoners released, namely women and children. Two hundred aid trucks that include medical supplies for the entire Gaza Strip will also be allowed in during the four-day ceasefire.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm in response to Tel Aviv's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The Government Media Office in Gaza announced in a report on Thursday that at least 14,854 Palestinians, including more than 6,150 children and 4,000 women, have been killed and over 36,000 others injured in the Israeli strikes.