'Battle with Israel has not begun yet,' says Hamas Deputy Chief, confirms it's 'in constant touch' with Hezbollah

Hamas Deputy Chief Saleh al-Arouri has said that the battle with Israel has not “begun yet” and that their fight is also “Hezbollah’s fight.” In a telephonic conversation with al-Manar, the Hezbollah-backed TV channel, al-Arouri said that Hamas has been in constant touch with Hezbollah. He also revealed that he had met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on October 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel and that all of their meetings have not been made public. “If the enemy enters by land, it will be an unprecedented defeat [for Israel],” al-Arouri added amid a possible Israeli ground invasion of Gaza. He said that Hamas terrorists are “in good condition in spite of Israeli strikes on the Strip.” Regarding the hostage situation, the Hamas deputy chief said that while the foreign hostages held by them are their “guests”, Israeli people held captive by Hamas will only be released in exchange for Hamas detainees in Israel. Meanwhile, the head of Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, met top officials from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) on Wednesday. According to a statement by Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said that Nasrallah met Saleh Al-Arouri, a deputy head of Hamas and the secretary general of Palestinian Islamic Jihad Ziad Nakhla. The statement, however, did not mention where the meeting took place. “An assessment was made of…what the parties of the resistance axis must do at this sensitive stage to achieve a real victory for the resistance in Gaza and Palestine and to stop the treacherous and brutal aggression against our people,” the statement said.