„We choose to keep up the fight in a long war of attrition, one that is painful and costly for the enemy,“ said Abu Obeida, spokesman of the militant group‘s armed wing.

He also warned that scores of people taken captive into Gaza on October 7 last year were enduring a „very difficult“ situation.

His statement, broadcast on Al Jazeera, came on the one-year anniversary of the Aqsa Flood operation.