Member of Hamas Political Bureau Husam Badran said on Sunday evening that the issue of Palestinian detainees is on top of his movement’s list of priorities. 

In an interview with Al-Aqsa TV channel, Badran stressed that Hamas is sparing no effort to liberate and defend Palestinian detainees. 

“There is an international legal action being taken by Hamas, besides the political work, to defend the [Palestinian] detainees and preserve their dignity,” Badran continued. “We’re ready to do everything needed to protect them.” 

Badran confirmed that Hamas has “powerful cards” to hammer out a prisoner exchange agreement to liberate Palestinian detainees from Israeli occupation prisons. 

Badran saluted Ahmad Jabari, the top commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades who was killed in an Israeli occupation airstrike on his car during the 2012 Israeli military offensive on Gaza, for his role in the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner swap deal. 

As for Israeli measures in occupied Jerusalem, Badran pointed out that the Israeli occupation is seeking to alter the status quo in the holy city according to a systematic policy, warning that targeting Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a “red line that will not go unpunished.” 

Badran, on the other hand, regretted that the Palestinian Authority (PA) failed to assume its role towards Palestinian national issues, particularly in terms of international law and global action.  

“The PA’s performance is unacceptable and unsatisfactory,” Badran added, regretting also the recent series of political arrests by the PA security forces in the West Bank.