Haniya: 'People of Gaza will not retreat'

GAZA CITY, Gaza (CNN) - Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya delivered a
defiant speech Monday, promising that the current conflict with Israel will
deliver "a new future" to the people of Gaza.

"Victory comes with patience," Haniya said in the speech televised on
Hamas' Al Aqsa TV. "O people of Gaza with your patience you are drawing the
features of a new future."

It is the second speech by Haniya since Israel began its military
operation on December 27. His office was struck by Israeli aircraft in the
early days of the military campaign.

"What is truly happening and all honesty is a divine verse of God,"
Haniya said. That statement is reminiscent of the rhetoric used by Hezbollah
leader Hassan Nasrallah, who spoke of a "divine victory" over Israel in 2006.
Israel fought Hezbollah militants in Lebanon two years ago in an effort
to stop Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel. The six-week war failed to
weaken the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

Israel launched its military operation in Gaza on December 27 to halt
rocket attacks on southern Israel, which it blames on the Hamas leadership of
Gaza.

Palestinian medical sources said Monday that 917 Palestinians have died
in the more than two-week-old operation. Of those, at least 43 percent are
civilians, according to the sources. More than 4,000 other have been injured,
they said.

Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have died in the operation in
Gaza as well as the rocket strikes on southern Israel.
– CNN's Saad Abedine contributed to this report