Erratum: the Speech of Hezbollah Secretary General that we translated previously was dated August 5, 2025, and not June 26.

Press conference by Osama Hamdan, senior member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, on August 4, 2025, on the situation in Gaza and that of Palestinian hostages held by Israel.

Source: Al-Jazeera

Translation: Resistance News

The pictures displayed below were shown by Osama Hamdan during his brief.

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Press statement on the escalation of killings, through bombardment and starvation, inflicted on our people in the Gaza Strip, as well as the situation of Palestinian prisoners in the prisons of the Zionist occupation, on the occasion of the extraordinary session of the United Nations Security Council scheduled for tomorrow, August 5, 2025, to discuss the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

The Zionist occupation has continued its war of extermination and imposed famine against the Gaza Strip for 669 days. This war has already caused more than 60,000 martyrs, most of them women and children, as well as 150,000 wounded and 10,000 missing, in a context of blatant American support, shameful international silence and impotence, and a global failure that can only be explained by U.S. tyranny: the failure to put an end to the most horrific and barbaric crime of the contemporary era.

It is in this context that the Security Council plans to hold an extraordinary session to examine the humanitarian catastrophe ravaging the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, the United States and the Zionist occupation are trying to divert the debate by focusing attention on the issue of occupation soldiers detained in Gaza, following the release of photos of two prisoners visibly marked by hunger, while remaining silent on the unprecedented human tragedy endured by more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip [as a reminder, the autopsy of Yahya Sinouar, Hamas leader, revealed that he himself had not eaten for three days], due to the blockade and famine imposed by the occupation—crimes in violation of all UN resolutions and orders from the International Court of Justice calling for an end to this war of extermination.

To date, the number of martyrs who have died of hunger in the Gaza Strip stands at 180, including 93 children. I wish the world could see the photo of one of these children who fell victim to the hunger and famine imposed upon us.

The number of people who have died of starvation while waiting for humanitarian aid at the gates of the American-Israeli institution and at distribution points stands at 1,487 martyrs, killed by the bullets of soldiers and members of this entity, in addition to 10,000 wounded.

According to figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 96% of Palestinian families suffer from food insecurity, and 90% do not have access to drinking water.

Added to this is the dire situation of hospitals—or what remains of them—massively destroyed, plagued by a severe shortage of medicines and medical supplies, and left with decimated and exhausted medical staff. The sector also suffers from an acute shortage of infant formula, medications, and healthcare equipment to respond to the famine.

And all of this while 22,000 trucks of humanitarian aid remain blocked at the crossing points. The Israeli occupation wants this image—the denial of aid, relief, and food—to become the permanent image of the Palestinian people.

These trucks, most of which belong to international organizations or various humanitarian agencies, are deliberately prevented from entering by the occupation, as part of a systematic policy of engineering famine, blockade, and chaos—part and parcel of the ongoing crime of genocide.

These figures and statistics will forever remain overwhelming testimonies of shame, indelibly marking the foreheads of all those who support or are complicit in the crimes of the occupation, as well as those who, through their silence or inaction, allow these crimes to continue without holding their perpetrators accountable.

This is a message to the members of the Security Council: let them contemplate the scale of the greatest tragedy suffered by more than two million Palestinians, daily victims of the crime of the century, through deliberate killings by bombing and imposed starvation—even the two prisoners whose photos show the ravages of hunger are afflicted just as the rest of our two million people.

Here is a photo of Hajj Salim Asfour, which the world must remember: an elderly man [aged 75] who only finds something to eat once every five days.

Or this family that does not know how to feed its children, while some dare to claim that there is neither famine nor death by starvation in the Gaza Strip.

We, the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”), in the face of the ongoing silence and impotence of the international community regarding the siege, extermination, and imposed famine afflicting the Gaza Strip, and in the face of the systematic crimes of the occupation against our prisoners in its prisons and detention camps, present the following facts and figures to public opinion:

First: The occupation has transformed the Gaza Strip into a full-fledged Nazi concentration/extermination camp, comparable to — if not worse than — the infamous Auschwitz camp. It is committing acts of extermination that surpass even those of the Holocaust. It is time for the world to put an end to these crimes, to bring their perpetrators to justice — those who seek to conceal their deeds behind false crocodile tears — and to compel the Zionist entity to abide by international humanitarian law.

Second: Systematic Zionist crimes against prisoners, detainees, and those arrested among our people in the occupation’s prisons and detention camps have intensified in an unprecedented manner since October 7, 2023. As of last month (July), the number had reached approximately 10,800 prisoners, including 49 women, 495 children, 3,900 administrative detainees [held without charge — the very definition of a hostage], and more than 2,454 from the Gaza Strip.

This figure does not include all those held in the occupation’s camps and underground cells, due to the crime of enforced disappearance imposed by the occupier on the captives of Gaza.

This photo, for example, illustrates a case of arrest followed by enforced disappearance: the individuals shown are prisoners whose fate remains unknown, several months after their disappearance.

Third: Prisoners, detainees, and arrestees from among our people are subjected to the hell of hunger, humiliation, torture, and multiple fractures, until dozens of them fall as martyrs in the camps and prisons — whether as a result of the brutality of interrogations, deliberate medical neglect, or deprivation of food and medicine.

All documented testimonies from released prisoners confirm that they have been subjected to systematic torture and grave abuses by occupation soldiers in a barbaric and vindictive manner — at the time of arrest, during imprisonment, and even up to their release.

Let me remind the world of the case of the released prisoner Badr Dahlan, who emerged from captivity having lost his memory, completely disoriented and unable to comprehend what was happening around him, due to the torture he endured.

Fourth: 76 Palestinian prisoners have died as a result of torture, starvation, and deliberate and systematic medical neglect in the occupation’s prisons, which have been under the direct supervision of the far-right minister — terrorist and accused terrorist — Itamar Ben Gvir, since the beginning of the war of extermination against Gaza. Among them, 46 martyred prisoners were from the Gaza Strip.

Here is an image taken from a video filmed in the occupier’s prisons and leaked by occupation soldiers, showing shocking scenes of assaults (gang-rape) on Palestinian prisoners. Members of the Security Council should perhaps — or rather must — take note of this.

Fifth: The occupation has sidelined humanitarian and human rights institutions responsible for monitoring the condition, affairs, and rights of prisoners, as part of deliberate policies aimed at pressuring and distancing them, and at systematically concealing the reality of the situation in its prisons — especially for those abducted and detained from among our people in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Zionist aggression and war of extermination against the Gaza Strip, particularly in the infamous Sde Teman prison.

Certain leaks from enemy soldiers have revealed that detainees there are subjected to torture, rape, starvation, and living conditions that gravely undermine their human dignity.

Within the Hamas movement, in light of the ongoing war of extermination, starvation, and thirst imposed on our people in the Gaza Strip, and in view of the continuing violations and crimes perpetrated by the occupation against our prisoners in the jails of the Zionist enemy, we affirm the following:

  • The Zionist occupation’s continued implementation of criminal policies aimed at starving and intensifying all forms of extermination against more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, under the eyes and ears of the entire world, constitutes a crime against humanity and will remain a shameful stain that will forever haunt all those who support the occupation or refrain from preventing and ending it.
  • The fact that many countries—foremost among them the U.S. administration and certain Western nations—support the occupation and its crimes, its war of extermination and starvation against our people in the Gaza Strip, and turn a blind eye to the situation and suffering of our prisoners and the violations committed against them, while simultaneously expressing abject solidarity with the occupier’s prisoners held by the Resistance, represents a biased, one-eyed policy rooted in double standards when it comes to the Zionist occupation and its crimes.
  • The government of the criminal Netanyahu bears full responsibility for the lives of the Resistance’s prisoners, due to its obstinacy, arrogance, refusal to agree to a ceasefire, and its escalation of the war of extermination and starvation against our people. Moreover, Netanyahu—who is wanted by international justice—bears responsibility for the situation of the captured Zionist soldier Eviatar David, due to the tightening of the blockade, the resulting famine, and the ban on the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the Gaza Strip.
  • The whole world has witnessed the humane treatment of enemy prisoners by the Resistance since October 7, 2023, throughout their captivity, as well as the testimonies and confessions of released enemy prisoners. The Resistance has consistently affirmed that enemy prisoners eat what our besieged and starving people eat, and drink what they drink.
  • The Resistance’s treatment of occupation prisoners is grounded in the tolerant values and principles of Islam. As long as the humanitarian needs of our people in the Gaza Strip are met, they live as the people of Gaza live. Meanwhile, the fascist occupation government inflicts the worst forms of torture, brutal revenge, humiliation, and slow death upon our prisoners in its prisons.
  • These violations, these crimes of extermination and starvation committed by the occupier against the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, and our prisoners in its prisons and detention centers, constitute a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms, requiring urgent intervention by the international community to bring them to an immediate end. The persistent silence of the international community and UN institutions in the face of the escalation of these crimes and violations against our people and our prisoners makes them politically, morally, and humanly responsible for the grave consequences and repercussions of these crimes.
  • We reaffirm our readiness to respond favorably to any request from the International Red Cross to deliver food and medicine to enemy prisoners in the Gaza Strip, and we emphasize the need to compel the occupier to open humanitarian corridors—on a regular and permanent basis—for the delivery of food and medicine to all our people.
  • Only the immediate lifting of the blockade, the opening of all crossing points, and the urgent delivery of food, water, and medicine to the entire Gaza Strip will put an end to the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, without giving in to the occupier’s policy—supported by the United States—of distributing aid as part of a plan aimed at manufacturing famine and chaos.
  • We call on the members of the Security Council to pressure the occupying power to end the humanitarian tragedy in the Gaza Strip, in accordance with international humanitarian law, which places on the occupying power the responsibility to ensure the population’s access to the conditions necessary for life—including food, medicine, and water—as well as everything required for a life of dignity, and to end the policy of collective starvation, which constitutes a war crime. We also call on them to exert strong pressure to put an end to the aggression and the blockade.
  • The United Nations Security Council must adopt clear and binding resolutions obliging the occupier to end the war of extermination, its massacres, violations, famines, and the destruction of civilian life in the Gaza Strip; to withdraw from the Gaza Strip; to open the crossing points for humanitarian aid; and to stop its violations against prisoners held in its jails.
  • Finally, a last message to the members of the Security Council: while you deliberate, remember this image—the image of little Mariam Dawwas, who weighed 25 kilograms before she was starved, and now weighs less than 10 kilograms because of this famine. She is no longer able to stand, let alone walk.

Salutations and pride to our great people in the Gaza Strip, who endure the unspeakable without ever bowing.

May God’s mercy be upon the martyrs of our people and our Ummah, on the path to the liberation of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Greetings to all the men of the Resistance, heroes of the Al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas), of the Saraya Al-Quds (Islamic Jihad), of the Palestinian resistance, and to all the sons of our great people.

Freedom is near, God willing, for our people, our prisoners, and our female prisoners.

This is a jihad whose outcome can only be victory or martyrdom.

Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas

Peace be upon you, and God’s mercy and blessings. 

To support our work, you can donate, share this article and subscribe to our newsletter.