Hamas Marks 109 Years Since Balfour Declaration, Urges International Action

Gaza, MINA – On the 109th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, the Hamas Movement has reiterated the Palestinian people’s adherence to their land, rights, and holy sites, pledging to continue the struggle for liberation and return, according to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC).

In a statement released on Monday, Hamas said that the Israeli occupation’s crimes and colonial schemes would fail to erase the Palestinian people’s national identity or undermine their inalienable historical rights.

Hamas affirmed that this year’s anniversary of the Balfour Declaration comes amid an escalation in Israeli aggression and crimes across the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and occupied East Jerusalem.

“In the absence of international action, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continue to face a worsening humanitarian crisis amid ongoing genocide, while displacement and settlement expansion continue to escalate in the West Bank and Jerusalem in violation of international law,” Hamas said.

Hamas added that the 109th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration marks one of the greatest injustices in modern history, when the British government issued a declaration that gave what it did not own to those who had no right to it.

The Movement emphasized that the colonial mindset continues to govern Israeli policies, pointing to the ongoing killings, blockade, starvation, and displacement affecting Palestinians in Gaza, as well as in cities, towns, and refugee camps across the West Bank.

Hamas stressed that these crimes are imprescriptible and will remain a testament to the terrorism of the occupation and its supporters. It called for effective international action to pressure the Israeli government to halt its crimes, prosecute its leaders in international courts as war criminals, and enable the Palestinian people to obtain their rights.

The Balfour Declaration, issued by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour on November 2, 1917, expressed the British government’s support for “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an overwhelmingly Arab territory under Ottoman rule. The declaration, which promised land Britain did not own to a people who were not its majority inhabitants, became a foundational document in the creation of Israel and is regarded by Palestinians as the original sin underlying a century of dispossession.

The anniversary comes as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to deepen. Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that 74,594 Palestinians have been killed and 175,834 injured since October 7, 2023, with 1,580 killed and 5,711 injured since the ceasefire took effect on October 11, 2025. The UN Human Rights Office has warned that displacement in Gaza has become an “acute and chronic nightmare,” with Palestinians entering their fourth winter in frail tents.

In the occupied West Bank, Israel’s operation in Hebron ended Monday after 10 days with the army’s withdrawal, but the assault displaced more than 3,300 Palestinians, demolished homes, and caused millions of shekels in daily economic losses. Settlement expansion and settler violence have continued across the territory, with more than 9,500 demolition and stop work notices issued, according to recent reports. In occupied East Jerusalem, settlers have repeatedly desecrated the Aqsa Mosque under police escort while worshipers face entry restrictions.

Hamas’s statement frames these developments as a continuation of the colonial logic embodied in the Balfour Declaration, arguing that international inaction has allowed the occupation to persist. Its call for prosecution of Israeli leaders in international courts echoes similar demands from Palestinian rights groups and reflects a broader push to translate documentation of alleged crimes into legal accountability.[]

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)