By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Detailing the group’s military achievements since the start of the war, Gaza’s leading socialists say they are integral to the Gaza battle.

The Abu Ali Mustafa Martyr Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said on Saturday that an Israeli soldier held by the group in Gaza was killed in an Israeli air strike that also wounded a number of detainees.

Brigade spokesman Abu Jamal said in an audio message that the air strike took place after a failed attempt by an Israeli special force to free the soldier.

He added that they succeeded in thwarting the freeing of the detained soldier, in retaining his body after he was killed, in addition to seizing equipment from the attacking Israeli force after its withdrawal.

Additionally, Abu Jamal also said that the Brigades have destroyed and disabled 95 vehicles of the occupation army since the start of the ground battle in the Gaza Strip. 

The spokesman did not provide details on the time of the Israeli soldier’s capture or place of detention in Gaza.

This is not the first time that the Israeli army has killed its own military captives, in failed attempts to free them. 

The latest such episode was the killing of three Israeli soldiers who attempted to escape in Shejayha, only to be shot point blank by their own military. 

PFLP is Palestine’s largest socialist movement, and the second largest faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization PLO.

⚠️ GRAPHIC CONTENT

Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades spokesman Abu Jamal delivers his first speech since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Flood. pic.twitter.com/VJbMLBa3w2

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 30, 2023

Abu Ali Mustafa Statement

The Brigades issued a statement via their Telegram channel which stated,

“In a speech by the Brigades spokesman Abu Jamal, the first since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Flood Operation,) the Brigades revealed that they thwarted an IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) operation to free a Zionist prisoner in their hands, but the IOF bombed the area and killed their own soldier, which is still in the Brigades’ possession.” 

“They also revealed that they destroyed or disabled 95 IOF vehicles during the ongoing ground invasion so far, and that they obtained a laptop and flash drives with sensitive information and private data on October 7th, which they continue to use in their operations.” 

Abu Jamal 

Below are excerpts from the statement by the spokesperson of the PFLP’s Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades:  

“O masses of our steadfast and patient people, struggling in all places of their presence. Peace be upon you as you write the most magnificent epics of steadfastness, challenge, and the will of the free Palestinian which has not and will not be defeated by the Zionist brutal Nazi terrorist machine .. 

“In the midst of the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, we in the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades affirm that our heroic fighters in all fronts of engagement from Beit Hanoun in the north to Rafah in the south are fighting daily the fiercest battles, where the units of the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades were able to, since the beginning of the failed ground operation, destroy and disable 95 Zionist vehicles including Merkava tanks, bulldozers, military jeeps, and troop carriers using appropriate weapons from anti-tank shells to explosive devices. 

“The Brigades also engaged in many direct clashes with medium and light weapons against the zionist enemy’s infantry soldiers on many axes in Gaza City, the North, Khan Yunis, Al-Bureij, and Juhr al-Dik, and the Brigades have inflicted through them confirmed losses in the ranks of the enemy, including killed and wounded. Our rocket and artillery units continue to strike the zionist enemy’s gatherings on the incursion axes with their rockets and mortars. 

“From here, and within what was approved for publication, we announce to our Palestinian people that one of our fighting groups, which was securing one of the Zionist enemy prisoners, was attacked by a special Zionist force trying to free that prisoner by infiltrating the location of the group securing that prisoner. 

“The vigilance of our comrades and their readiness prevented the success of that cowardly unit, and clashed with them from point blank and inflicted many human losses on them, where this unit withdrew, dragging behind the tails of disappointment and defeat after our comrades discovered their plan. But the Zionist enemy, in its stupidity and arrogance, targeted that location with its air force to cover the retreat of its defeated soldiers which led to the killing of that prisoner and injuring a group of our comrades with moderate injuries. 

“The Brigades still retain the body of the prisoner, and we will leave the opportunity for his family and his people to identify him through the pictures we will broadcast, and this is what was approved to be published from the Brigades’ command.

“And we in the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades announce, during the heroic Al-Aqsa Flood battle, that we seized a laptop and a set of flash drives belonging to the Gaza Division of the enemy army, and we have obtained through what we captured valuable and precious information, military plans, and private data that we will not disclose, and our fighters are now benefiting from them in the ongoing battle. 

“What we announced today is nothing but solid evidence of the failure of this criminal enemy and its defeated army in its operations against the Gaza Strip,  especially its ground operation that started with alleged goals to free its prisoners, but we see in many locations that it is the one killing its prisoners.

“This message is directed to the Zionist people: You offered your sons in the Gaza Strip as a sacrifice to the foolish Netanyahu for nothing and for no purpose. 

“O masses of our heroic people, the zionist aggression and the series of crimes will inevitably end, and our heroic people and its brave resistance will be victorious, having written and still writing the most magnificent epics of heroism and sacrifice.”

(The Palestine Chronicle)