Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip have no intention of abandoning the besieged Palestinian enclave despite a relentless pounding by the Israeli armed forces.

“Victory or martyrdomare the only options, an official of the Palestinian Islamist movement in Beirut told the German News Agency (dpa), explaining that Gaza is their homeland and adding that the blood of the leaders of Hamas has no more value than that of the rest of the Palestinians.

Locating the leaders of Hamas in the Gaza Strip is among the priorities of the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF).

More than 100 days after the start of the war sparked by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, Yahya Sinwar and other leading figures of the movement reportedly remain in the Gaza Strip. It is estimated that they are hiding in the labyrinthine network of underground tunnels.

Hamas rejects the two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its former top political leader, Khaled Meshal, says the only solution is to end the Israeli occupation. Our people demand the “iestablishment of an independent Palestinian states”.

Israel’s Right to Exist “is categorically rejected“, he emphasizes.