Statement on the 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding, known as the Naqba (“catastrophe”) to Palestinians:

“On this anniversary, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas salutes the Palestinian heroic martyrs, who fell in their quest for freedom, wishes the injured speedy recovery, and hails the detainees in Israeli occupation jails. The movement states the following:

“First: The Joint Operations Chamber has consolidated the unity of the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation against the Israeli occupation.

“Second: The Israeli occupation will never have any legitimacy or sovereignty over historic Palestine and the occupation's endeavours to obliterate the historic features and identity of Palestine are bound to fail.

“Third: We will remain loyal to the Palestinians languishing in Israeli occupation jails and we will continue to work towards releasing them by all available means.

“Fourth: The main reason behind the great suffering of the millions of Palestinian refugees is the Israeli occupation. The Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their land, from which they were forcibly evicted, is inalienable.

“Fifth: The 75-year-long Israeli occupation of Palestine is a stain on those who remained silent and have not lifted a finger to expose the occupation’s crimes and put an end to its aggression against our people, land, and holy places.

“Sixth: We call on the international community, Arab and Muslim Ummah, and the free peoples of the world to side with the just Palestinian cause and take swift action to end all forms of aggression against the Palestinian people until they regain their rights.”“Statement on 75th anniversary of Palestinian Nakba,” Hamas, May 15, 2023, https://hamas.ps/en/post/4731/Statement-on-75th-anniversary-of-Palestinian-Nakba.