"The Great March of Return resulted in a dramatic shift in managing the conflict with the Israeli Occupation on field, political, media, local, and regional levels," head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh said.  

In a ceremony held on Thursday evening to honor the martyrs killed during the violent Israeli crackdown on the Great March of Return, Haniyeh confirmed that the March is the most appropriate option chosen by the Palestinian people among other tough ones during this stage.     

He added that the Palestinians had tough options to take and thwarted multiple schemes targeting the Palestinian cause, stressing that the Great March of Return brought the Palestinian cause its rightful status.  

He pointed out that the Great March of Return proves that the Palestinian people are capable of defying the challenges surrounding the Palestinian cause and their powerful will is able of bringing their cause back on top of the region's and world's agendas.  

He restated that the Great March of Return will continue unabated calling for moving the protests to the occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank and the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories.  

He stressed that the Palestinian people are not in haste to get results, as they will reject initiatives aiming to reduce their "exceptional" struggle for their inalienable rights urging the Palestinians to continue their popular resistance.   

Haniyeh stated that the latest Palestinian resistance's response to the Israeli aggression on Gaza reiterated the complementarity between the popular and armed resistance debunking some claims that the Palestinian resistance has put down its weapons.    

He noted that the Israeli Occupation's attempts to impose new reality on the ground have failed. 

"The Palestinian resistance through its response to the latest Israeli aggression on Gaza preserved the deterrence theory, defied the Zionist arrogance, and sent a message that the armed resistance protects the popular resistance," he continued.  

The Hamas top leader confirmed the Great March of Return resulted in unprecedented regional and international mobilisation, which pushed the UN Security Council to hold three meetings in a short period of time in order to discuss the events on Gaza's borders. 

    
Hanyia saluted Kuwait which supported the Palestinian people and blocked a U.S.-drafted resolution criminalising and condemning the Palestinian resistance.   

  
He noted that the Palestinian people and factions are willing to approve every practical initiative designed for completely lifting the Israeli-imposed siege on Gaza but not at the expense of the Palestinian cause.    

He reaffirmed the continuation of the Great March of Return until the Palestinians achieve their goals, the foremost among them the Israeli-imposed siege on Gaza to be lifted. 

'Deal of the Century' 

"Deal of the Century is dying, as the massacres committed by the Israeli Occupation on May 14 have deviated the world's attention from the White House's plans," Hanyia said.   

 
He explained that the U.S.-Zionist project aims at liquidating the Palestinian cause, criminalising the Palestinian resistance and labeling it as 'terror groups', as well as facilitating normalisation with the Israeli Occupation.     

National Unity

Hanyia reiterated the necessity to achieve the national reconciliation after holding a unified Palestinian National Council under the terms of Cairo deal and Beirut understandings, noting that his movement delivered this message to Egypt. 

  
He called for implementing the 2011 Cairo deals and forming a national consensus government that runs the West Bank and Gaza Strip, unifies the Palestinian Authority's institutions, and hold elections, as well as working on lifting the Israeli-imposed siege on Gaza and reconstructing the coastal enclave.     

He urged the Palestinian Authority to lift its punitive measures which aggravated the sufferings of two million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.