Senior Hamas official claims terror group abiding by ceasefire but still ‘fully prepared’ to resume war

Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu claims in an interview with Al Jazeera’s Mubasher network that the release of Palestinian security prisoners to Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire-hostage deal proves that Hamas remains in control of the Gaza Strip even after more than 15 months of war with Israel.

“The scenes of the prisoners’ handover prove that the popular front is rallying around the resistance,” al-Nunu says, referring to the three buses of Palestinian prisoners that arrived in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis on Saturday.

The released prisoners were welcomed with blaring music, and a crowd of waving, cheering supporters.

He claims that beyond showing support for Hamas’s leadership, the support for the prisoners will also deter Israel from restarting its fight against the Gaza terror group at the end of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.

He says that the celebrations “send a message to those who imagine they can continue the war” that Hamas is “ready and prepared” to begin negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, but that at the same time, it is “fully prepared to continue the struggle” against Israel.

Negotiations for the second phase are expected to begin Monday, on the 16th day of the ceasefire.

In the same interview, al-Nunu tells Al Jazeera that Hamas plans to continue governing the Gaza Strip, and claims that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party have rejected the possibility of a power-sharing agreement with Hamas, which would see the two create a committee to jointly administer postwar Gaza.