News - Middle East: The Islamic Jihad's deputy chief tells Press TV that the resistance movements in the Gaza Strip dashed the Israeli regime's hopes of swift victory in the coastal territory, which is enduring a genocidal United States-backed war by Tel Aviv.

Mohammad al-Hindi, deputy secretary-general of the Gaza-based resistance movement, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Press TV on Saturday.

"In the beginning of the battle, Israel expected that the Palestinians would lose. They carried out shellings and airstrikes against the residential areas in Gaza and thought that the war was over," he said.

"But then, they were forced to fight in the northern Gaza. And then, they said they had defeated the resistance in [the city of] Khan Younis in the south, but later they found the presence of the Palestinian fighters there, who fired rockets towards the Israeli enemy," Hindi added.

"Israel did not expect that the spirit of the Palestinian resistance would be so high. They realized that the Palestinians in Gaza are ready to sacrifice and bear all the hardships in order to continue fighting."

The Israeli regime began the war on October 7 in response to a retaliatory operation staged by Gaza's resistance groups.

The military onslaught has so far killed more than 32,700 people, mostly women, children, and adolescents. Nearly 75,200 Palestinians have also been wounded.

Hindi went on to say that the regime and the United States -- Tel Aviv's biggest supporter -- were after weakening the resistance, and destroying Gaza’s infrastructure to forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes.

He, however, added that Tel Aviv and Washington had stopped short of realizing all of the goals that they had been seeking to achieve through the war.

Concluding his remarks, the resistance official expressed confidence that after the end of the warfare, the coastal sliver "will be under the full control of Palestinians."

Source: Press TV