By Sitti Hadijah Mappeneding
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Bernama) -- The Al-Azhar Al Sharif Institution has expressed its condolences over the news of the deaths of Palestinian fighters in the battle against “Zionist criminals”, describing them as heroes.
The renowned Islamic education institution, in an Arabic post on its official Facebook account today, stated: “It is the hands of the ‘Zionist criminals’ that have caused chaos and destruction in our Arab lands. (They) kill, destroy, occupy, seize, and completely devastate countries, rendering them paralysed, powerless, and incapable of thought.
“…and the international community remains silent, even international legal documents seem to have lost their value.”
Al-Azhar stated that the martyrs of the “Palestinian resistance” are the true freedom fighters.
"They instill fear and terror in the hearts of their enemies. They are not terrorists as portrayed by their foes; rather, they are resistance fighters who consistently defend their homeland.
“Their struggle is our struggle, the struggle of Arabs and every Muslims on earth,” it added.
Al-Azhar also emphasised the importance of countering the lies and deceptions of the Zionist media.
“They try to corrupt our youth's thinking by twisting the facts of the Palestinian resistance and their descriptions of terrorists," it said.
The institution affirmed that “the resistance and struggle to defend the homeland, the country, and its goals, and dying for it, is an unparalleled honor”.
Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military claimed to have killed Hamas political leader Yahya Sinwar in a military operation in Gaza.
The military acknowledged that there were no signs of hostages in the area where Sinwar was killed.
Sinwar was elected as the political leader of Hamas in August, replacing Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in the Iranian capital, Tehran, after attending the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president on July 31.
However, Hamas has yet to make any statement regarding this matter.
-- BERNAMA
