Hamas praises African Union statement, calls for cutting ties with Israel

Beirut, February 19 (RHC)-- The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has praised a recent statement by the African Union (AU) that calls for an immediate end to Israel’s savage hostilities in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The statement was issued in the 37th African Union Summit in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, on Saturday, with the AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki condemning the Israeli aggression as “unprecedented in the history of mankind.”

Hamas said the AU statement called “for an end to the aggression against our people, the policy of collective punishment, the crime of genocide, the lifting of the siege, and compliance with the decisions of the International Court of Justice regarding the Gaza Strip.”

Praising the summit held on the 134th day of the Israeli campaign, Hamas said, “We hope it will translate into practical steps from all friendly African countries in a way that contributes to stopping the aggression and war of extermination against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

The Gaza-based resistance movement also demanded the severance of relations with Israel and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.  “We call for severing of all ties with the criminal Zionist entity, and supporting the struggle of our Palestinian people until they achieve their legitimate national rights, most notably the establishment of the Palestinian State with Jerusalem [al-Quds] as its capital,” Hamas stated.

Israel ignited its bloody war machine on October 7 after Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out a historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the occupying regime has killed over 28,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured about 70,000 others.  The Tel Aviv regime has imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.