Zahhar: No swap deal before Israel respects the last one

Member of Hamas’s political bureau Mahmoud al-Zahhar said there would be no talk about a new prisoner swap deal before the Israeli occupation respected its last swap agreement, which had been sponsored by Arab and international parties.

Zahhar made his remarks in a political symposium on Wednesday held under the theme “The regional changes and their impacts on the Palestinian cause.”

“We are not in a hurry and we do not sell the prisoner file at any price. We are still committed to our pledge to liberate our heroic prisoners from the occupation’s jails,” the Hamas official stated.

He stressed that the Israeli occupation violated what had been agreed upon in the last swap deal, Wafa al-Ahrar, which was brokered by Irish, British and Arab officials, so the Palestinian resistance would not take any step towards a new deal before the occupation fulfilled its commitments under the first one.

Zahhar also slammed the recent Egyptian court ruling on al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas, affirming that his Movement does not interfere in any way in the internal affairs of other countries.

“We fight for the liberation of our land and country and save our humanity from the oppression of the Zionist occupation,” he said.

He also talked about the Egyptian media lies against the Movement, asserting that the Egyptian intelligence itself knows that Hamas is innocent of all accusations made by the local media.

“Do not get us into vortexes which are not of our business. Our bullets only target the Zionist occupation,” Zahhar underlined.