In a pre-recorded video address released Sunday, Abu Obaida, the newly named military spokesman of Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has laid out the group’s stance on escalating regional tensions, criticized international ceasefire brokers, and issued a broad call for armed resistance against Israeli actions across the Middle East.
Abu Obaida took up the well-known nom de guerre in December, after Hamas confirmed the previous holder of the alias, Huthaifa Samir al-Kahlout, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City last August. The new spokesman’s full identity remains undisclosed.
Opening his remarks, Abu Obaida expressed unwavering backing for recent Iranian strikes targeting Israeli territory, framing the exchange of hostilities between Tehran and Tel Aviv as a direct extension of the conflict that began with Hamas’s October 7 Al-Aqsa Flood operation out of Gaza. He described the ongoing US-backed Israeli campaign against Iran as a continuation of the same war that has devastated Gaza for months, arguing that attacks by what he called “Zionist-American aggression” against Iranian citizens mirror the genocidal actions Israeli forces have carried out in Gaza.
“ The heinous crimes committed by the Zionist-American aggression against our brothers in the Islamic Republic remind the world of the genocidal crimes in Gaza,” he stated in the address, which aired across multiple Arab media outlets. Abu Obaida also claimed to mourn the passing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, naming him as a “great martyr” alongside other fallen Iranian figures. He added that the Qassam Brigades viewed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ strikes on Israel “with immense pride and admiration.”
The spokesman also acknowledged a message of solidarity from Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, which recently dedicated part of its military operations to slain senior Palestinian leaders, including Hamas co-founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and late Hamas chief in Gaza Yahya Sinwar.
Turning to ongoing ceasefire talks for Gaza, Abu Obaida issued sharp criticism of international mediators working to broker a truce, accusing them of applying asymmetric pressure exclusively on Palestinian resistance groups while ignoring repeated Israeli violations of existing truce commitments. He argued that brokers have continued to demand new concessions from Hamas without holding Israel accountable for failing to uphold its end of preliminary agreements, rejecting all calls to disarm Hamas before Israel is made to answer for its breaches.
“What the enemy is trying to pass today on the Palestinian resistance and the people of Gaza through the mediators is extremely dangerous,” he said. “What is required is to pressure the entity [Israel] to complete its commitments in the first stage, before talking about the terms of the second stage.”
Abu Obaida listed ongoing Israeli actions he said violate implicit and explicit truce terms: continued targeting of civilian populations in Gaza, severe restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the enclave, closure of the Rafah border crossing that prevents wounded Palestinians from seeking emergency medical care, and the full closure of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslim worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan. All of these actions, he emphasized, have taken place while the international community directs all its pressure at Hamas.
He went on to issue a direct call to arms, urging resistance factions across the Muslim world to make Israel “pay a heavy price” for its closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and calling on Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and within Israel’s pre-1967 borders to launch offensive attacks against Israeli targets. He warned that Israel’s provocative actions will not remain unpunished, noting that any attempt to disarm Hamas is equivalent to an effort to continue the genocide of the Palestinian people.
“Let the enemy know that touching Al-Aqsa and the prisoners will not pass without consequence, no matter the cost to our people, and it will have repercussions upon the occupation state,” he warned. “Indeed, it will be an additional detonator for the entire region.”
Closing his address, Abu Obaida turned to Syria, which he called “the beating heart of Al-Sham” and the birthplace of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, the namesake of the Qassam Brigades. He praised the Syrian people for hosting Palestinian refugees for decades and for continuing to show public solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
His remarks aligned with recent public demonstrations across Syria: following Friday prayers this week, hundreds of protesters gathered in central Damascus to wave Palestinian flags, chant slogans calling for the liberation of Al-Aqsa, condemn Israel’s policies toward Palestinian detainees, and protest the ongoing closure of the holy site. The Damascus rally was part of a broader wave of pro-Palestinian protests across the country, as public anger grows over Israel’s military campaigns and policies targeting Palestinians across the region.
This report draws from independent on-the-ground and regional reporting by Middle East Eye, which specializes in original coverage of the Middle East and North Africa.