Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in a statement Thursday, renewed their commitment to armed resistance against Israel saying any other choice is a "losing bet" and that "valiant" resistance in the only way to liberate Palestinian lands.

Speaking at the eighth memorial of the death of the group's founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hamas called on the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to avoid relying on negotiations with the self-proclaimed Jewish state. The Zionist enemy, they added, uses negotiations as a cover to continue settlement building and the Judaisation of Jerusalem.

Gaza's ruling party also said that Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people including the continued murder and incarceration of its people, as well as the isolation of Palestinian leaders and national figures, will not discourage them from persevering. These actions, Hamas spokespeople added, will only increase their commitment to the Palestinian national struggle and reinforce their determination to recover stolen rights.

Hamas expressed its dedication to national reconciliation and achieving the hopes of the Palestinian people, saying this is the only way to "honour the blood of martyrs." It stressed that Jerusalem and the Jerusalem-based Al-Aqsa Mosque are the figureheads of the Palestinian cause, adding that the occupation will fail in its attempts to Judaise them.

The statement also called on the Arab and Islamic world to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Arab areas of Jerusalem and to support the struggle of the Palestinian people in establishing a sovereign Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem.