The leader the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group says militant factions in Gaza went into the latest battle with Israel knowing it will be “costly but also knowing that it is the only road to freedom and to protect Jerusalem.”

Ziad Nakhaleh said in a televised speech from Beirut on Wednesday that neither nuclear weapons, warplanes nor peace agreements with some Arab states could bring Israelis security and peace.

He added that militant groups in Gaza have “made miracles that you can see with your own eyes and you live them every moment when you run to shelters.”

Nakhaleh was referring to thousands of missiles and rockets that Gaza militants have fired toward Israel.

Nakhaleh said that after Israel’s moves that threatened the eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem, “we were in front of two choices, to surrender and to give them everything or fight them over everything.”

(AP)