Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh: “This battle will have a continuation,” in victory speech after 2021 Hamas terror war

Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh: “I announce to you this mighty victory that was recorded by the heroic resistance (i.e., Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli cities). This divine, strategic, complex victory at this stage of the conflict with the Zionist enemy… This battle will have a continuation. The success is from Allah first and foremost… We consider this battle a qualitative quantum leap in the history of the conflict with the enemy… The resistance and the resistance as an alternative are the shortest path to liberation and return, because this battle thwarted the illusions of negotiations… thwarted the plans of coexistence with the Zionist occupation (i.e., Israel), thwarted the plans of normalization with the Zionist occupation… Here I must thank those who gave money and weapons to the brave resistance. [Thanks] to the Islamic Republic of Iran, which did not withhold money, weapons, and technologies from this resistance.”

Fatah/Hamas Riot and Rocket War 2021 – On April 30, 2021, facing certain electoral defeat, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas cancelled the first PA elections scheduled in 15 years. Hamas, which expected to win the elections, denounced it as a “coup.” In need of a conflict to divert public discontent, Abbas artificially generated a crisis over Jerusalem. His Fatah party called for "raising the level of confrontation,” and Abbas' spokesman told Palestinians "the battle of all battles is here.” Jerusalem Arabs responded by attacking Jews with rocks and Molotov cocktails. Hamas, Abbas' political rival, could not allow Abbas to lead the battle, so on May 10, 2021, Hamas launched rocket barrages targeting Israeli population centers including Jerusalem. Over the next 11 days, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired over 4,300 rockets into southern and central Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing 9 Israelis and 3 foreign nationals, and wounding hundreds. In response, Israel launched Operation Guardian of the Walls to target Hamas terror leaders and terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Already in mid-April, a planned eviction of some Palestinian families illegally living in Jewish-owned buildings in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem had led to clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli police. This dispute provided Palestinians with a pretext for violent rioting. Adding to the crisis, Israeli Arabs started rioting throughout Israel, especially in cities with a mixed Jewish and Arab population. Two Jews were murdered and many were wounded. According to Walla, an independent Israeli news site, 10 synagogues were wholly or partly burned down; fires were set in 112 Jewish homes and 1 Arab home mistaken for a Jewish home; 386 Jewish homes were plundered and 673 were damaged; 849 cars were set ablaze; and there were 5,018 rock-throwing attacks. In response, Jews started attacking Arabs and their properties as well, but on a much smaller scale. No mosques were burned; 13 Arab homes were damaged; 13 Arab-owned cars were burned; and there were 41 rock-throwing attacks by Jews. [Walla, May 16, 2021] The fighting between Israel and Hamas ended with a ceasefire on May 21, 2021.