AS a result of the ongoing Zionist aggression and terrorism since October 7, 2023, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been martyred and more than 100,000 have been injured, including a large number of children. Israel is not only targeting Palestinians in their homes, schools, hospitals and shelters, but has spread this war throughout the Middle East. The leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah is being targeted. Challenging Iran’s integrity and sovereignty, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was attacked in Tehran. After the martyrdom of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, his successor Hashim Safiuddin was also martyred. Israel is also involved in the killing of two Iranian Generals who were killed in an attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria. The new head of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, the great metaphor of the Palestinian resistance, was also martyred. He continued fighting the Zionist enemy until the last moment of his life. Sorry! Even on this irreparable loss, the world of Islam remained a silent spectator. The intellectual moment is that despite all the atrocities committed by Israel, the Muslim Ummah could not go beyond formal rhetoric and condemnation resolutions.
Yahya Sinwar and his comrades challenged Israel’s military power for the first time through the operation ‘Toufan al-Aqsa’ on October 7, 2023, and exposed its intelligence to the whole world, always maintaining the illusion of the invincibility of the Zionist State. Israel and the United States constantly propagated that Yahya Sinwar had fled Palestine with his family. When the truth was revealed, it was found that Yahya Sinwar stood in the forefront, leading his soldiers like a true man of the field. Till the last moment of his life, Sinwar proved that he was a brave and true soldier. He never betrayed his people. What would be the worst defeat of Zionism and Western colonialism is that despite filling the walls of Palestine with spy drones and devices, they could not locate Yahya Sinwar for a whole year. After his martyrdom, the Western media tried to create such a pessimistic atmosphere that Hamas would now disappear. The fact is that these great sacrifices will strengthen the Palestinian movement and resistance. Those who will survive the American and Israeli bombs and attacks will fulfill the unfulfilled dream of Palestine’s freedom, God willing!
Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis and other resistance organizations have significantly impacted Israel and its allies, whose losses remain hidden due to media control. Israel has a long and bloody history of targeted killings. In July 2024, it targeted Hamas commander Muhammad Zaif in southern Gaza. In January 2024, senior Hamas official Saleh Arori, deputy political chief and founder of Hamas’s military wing, was martyred in a drone strike in Beirut. In December 2023, Iranian Revolutionary Guards adviser, Seyed Razi Mousav,i was martyred in a drone attack outside Damascus. In 2019, Israel conducted an airstrike on Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior commander of Islamic Jihad, killing him and his wife. In 2012, Ahmed Jabari, head of Hamas’s armed wing, was targeted in an airstrike, leading to eight days of conflict. In 2010, Hamas activist Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh was targeted by Mossad in Dubai. In 2008, Hezbollah military chief Imad Mughnia was martyred in Damascus.
In 2004, Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin was martyred in a helicopter attack while in his wheelchair; his successor, Abdul Aziz Rantisi, was killed in an airstrike less than a month later. In 2002, Salah Shahida, Hamas’s second-in-command military leader, was targeted by a one-ton bomb in Gaza. In 1997, Mossad attempted to assassinate Khalid Meshaal, head of Hamas, by poisoning him in Amman. Yahya Ayyash was martyred in Gaza in 1996, while Fatehi Shikaki, founder of Islamic Jihad, was shot in Malta in 1995. In 1988, Khalil Al Wazir, military chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), known as Abu Jihad, was killed in Tunisia. In 1973, Israeli commandos, under Ehud Barak’s leadership, shot several PLO leaders in Beirut. Barak later became Israel’s prime minister.
The situation in the Middle East is becoming increasingly tense due to human rights violations in Gaza and Lebanon and Washington’s refusal of a cease-fire. After the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and Yahya Sinwar, the warning issued by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei to Netanyahu should be considered as an alarm because this game of resistance does not seem to be ending soon. While the ground and air operations in the war against Hezbollah may provide Netanyahu with some temporary benefits, the destruction in the Middle East will lead to complex problems for other countries in the region, including the United States, which will endure for years to come. On the other hand, The United Nations Security Council meeting, convened at the request of France, Great Britain and Algeria to address the situation in Gaza, serves merely as a smokescreen for the world, as hundreds of resolutions against Zionist atrocities have been passed in similar meetings, resulting in no action beyond dismissal.
It should be noted that as a result of the Israeli blockade, more than 200,000 Palestinians are forced to live without food, water and medicine. Joyce Masuya, the acting head of the United Nations on Gaza aid, said in the Security Council meeting that the situation in Gaza is unbearable, even the UN aid agencies are not being given access to the affected Palestinians. This expression of helplessness on the part of the United Nations is mainly to make the international community believe that the strings of this puppet are in the hands of the United States and other Western countries, so no concrete action should be expected from it. According to an estimate, the United States has provided more than 17 billion dollars in military aid to the Zionist State since October 2023. The majority of the West is clearly not only standing with Israel, but also providing it with ammunition to target the oppressed Palestinians. In these critical situations, the rulers of the Islamic world, who should be united on a single platform, are looking towards America and Britain.
—The writer is Chairman, Tehrik Jawanan Pakistan.
