"Nevertheless, all estimates, based on the statements of the resistance forces, their spokespersons, and analysts, and based on simple logic, say: do not negotiate for the release of detainees or engage in a prisoner exchange without a cessation of aggression. Who would be foolish enough to think that the resistance will hand over hundreds of its prisoners for nothing, especially since they declared from day one, through the words of Ismail Haniyeh and others, that the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood is for the sake of the prisoners and detainees? Therefore, the resistance will not forfeit what it achieved on October seventh, and it will not turn its back on the sacrifices of our people in the Gaza Strip over 19 days for nothing.

[Freeing] the prisoners, [securing] the Al-Aqsa Mosque, [ending] the siege, and nothing less, are what I believe to be the goals that the resistance seeks to achieve in the foreseeable future. I say the foreseeable future because the developments of the conflict are pushing towards the boundaries of a regional war, which will present the resistance and its allies with more strategic goals. It is not far from the truth to say that the most important of these strategic goals is the goal of return and liberation. The battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, with its achievements and its sacrifices, and the new realities it imposed on regional and international levels, has put the Palestinian issue back on the right track, the track of the national struggle until return and liberation."