Hamas: Palestinians will continue to defend al-Aqsa

In response to a threatening televised speech by the Israeli prime minister, Hamas resistance movement says Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks will not weaken Palestinians' resolve to defend the al-Aqsa mosque from aggression by the occupation regime. "Netanyahu's speech cannot scare our Palestinian people," movement spokesman Hazem Qassem said on Monday, adding that Palestinians "will continue the battle to defend the identity of the al-Aqsa mosque in the face of the religious war waged by the enemy.” Qassem's remarks came as the Tel Aviv regime has dangerously escalated tensions across the occupied territories since Wednesday when it carried out a savage attack on Palestinian worshipers, who were observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan at the al-Aqsa mosque complex, which is the third holiest site in Islam.

A senior official of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah stressed the need for unity among Muslim countries to deal with Israel's hostile acts, saying the Tel Aviv regime is not at all prepared to launch a new war against the Gaza Strip." Support for the al-Aqsa mosque and the Palestinian cause is not limited solely to the Palestinian nation. All Muslims have a duty to do so," Hezbollah Central Council member Sheikh Hassan al-Baghdadi said at a ceremony held in the village of Ansar, in southern Lebanon, in commemoration of the former Lebanese Shiite leader, Imam Musa al-Sadr, who disappeared with two companions more than 40 years ago in Libya.