Alwaght- Leader of Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas Ismail Haniyeh has dismissed as "clinically dead" US President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" plan to resolve the issue of Palestine.
Speaking at a rally after Eid al-Adha prayers in Gaza City on Tuesday, Haniyeh told Palestinians that they were "on the way to ending the blockade on Gaza".
"This is the result of your steadfastness and your struggle, and any humanitarian aid to Gaza will not be made at a diplomatic price," he said.
In his speech, Haniyeh did not directly address the possibility of a truce, mooted in Israeli and Palestinian media for weeks.
"Thanks to these marches and resistance, we are just around the corner from closing the page on this unjust blockade," he said, referring to months of protests along the Gaza-Israel border as part of the Great March of Return, which have been the target of a deadly reaction from the Israeli army.
Haniyeh said any agreement would come "with a national consensus and an Arab safety net in order to establish the necessary safeguards to implement what is agreed upon".
"We are on our way to ending this unjust blockade of Gaza," he said.
Protests have taken place in Gaza every Friday along Israel's fence since March 30 against the Israeli blockade and for UN Resolution 194, which defines Palestinians' right to return to their homes they were expelled from in 1948 with the creation of the state of Israel.
The Israeli army has responded to the protests by killing 170 Palestinian demonstrators and wounding more than 18,000.
According to various reports, Trump has proposed to establish a Palestinian state with limited sovereignty over around half of the West Bank and Abu Dis as its capital.
Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, his special adviser for international negotiations, are reportedly the main architects of the plan.
Palestinians from various factions have rejected the deal and have vowed to continue resistance against the usurper Zionist regime until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital.
