New Statement from Abu Ubaida

The military spokesman of the "Al-Qassam Brigades," the military wing of Hamas, Abu Ubaida, issued a statement addressed to pilgrims on the Day of Arafah. Abu Ubaida said: "We call on the pilgrims to the Sacred House of Allah to remember their brothers in Gaza and Palestine in their sincere prayers at the holy sites and during the rituals of Hajj, and to recall Gaza and its patient people and its fighters during these blessed and significant times." He added: "As the guests of Allah perform the obligation of Hajj, we perform the duty of jihad against the enemies of Allah, the occupying aggressors, on behalf of the great Islamic nation." He continued, saying that "the flood of Al-Aqsa has begun for the third of the two holy mosques, and the rituals of Hajj are an opportunity to remind the two billion Muslims of the reality of our struggle with our enemy that violates the place of the Messenger of Allah and wreaks havoc and judaization every day."