Hamas officials defended the October 7 attacks despite Israel's brutal response, saying it "woke the world from a deep sleep."
More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the month since Hamas' terrorist attacks inside southern Israel, the group's health ministry in Gaza says.
But Hamas officials say the mounting death toll, believed to include thousands of children, has not caused the group to regret its actions in southern Israel, which Israeli officials said killed 1,400 people.
In fact, Hamas leaders say that their goal was to trigger this very response and that they're still hoping for a bigger war. It's all part of a strategy, they say, to derail talks over Israel normalizing relations with regional powers — namely, Saudi Arabia — and draw the world's attention to the Palestinian cause.
Hamas, these officials say, is more interested in the destruction of Israel than what it sees as the temporary hardships faced by Palestinians under Israeli bombardment.
"What could change the equation was a great act, and without a doubt, it was known that the reaction to this great act would be big," Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the group's governing politburo, told The New York Times in an interview.
In fact, Hamas leaders say that their goal was to trigger this very response and that they're still hoping for a bigger war. It's all part of a strategy, they say, to derail talks over Israel normalizing relations with regional powers — namely, Saudi Arabia — and draw the world's attention to the Palestinian cause.
"This was our plan all along!" Lol? At this rate there won't even be a Palestine to pay attention to...
Unfortunately it seems that they will get what they want.
Israel has been bombarded with nearly 10,000 rockets, ballistic missiles and bomb carrying drones over the last month - from Gaza to the centre, Lebanon to the north and Yemen and Iran to the south. In addition there are almost daily terror attacks coming from the west bank.
There are civilian fatalities every day there. A school was recently hit and destroyed from a ballistic missile hit. Thankfully the city that was hit moved to online studies due to the threats so it was empty.
The only reason we don't see a death toll of thousands of Israelis is due to extreme defence measurements including the evacuation of more than 250,000 Israelis from the north and centre.
The whole situation is just escalating by the day and the massive attacks are fuelling Israelis rage.
Both the Houthis and Hezbollah hinted a massive attack tomorrow. Another serious hit to Israeli civilians will send this whole thing over a cliff.
What choice did they realistically have? Be strangled out slowly by Israel while watching settlers pushing borders slowly but surely? No one has given a shit about Palestine since before ISIS / Syria, by my recollection.
That said it's also, of course, completely inexcusable to kill and take hostage civilians no matter the underlying justifications they might have.
This is just a shit storm about 80 years in the making. And there just isn't a solution in sight.
Curious to see how their apologists will spin that.
Every dead Palestinian Muslim is a martyr to Hamas, no? Every life just another tool to accomplish their religious-political objective, which afaik is solely the destruction of Israel. Or ask yourself why they intentionally link their paramilitary network to schools, hospitals, private residences and such.
Say whatever you want about Israel and Zionism, Hamas are NOT "the good guys" here and never have been. Their actions are indefensible. No amount of whataboutism changes that...
Hamas spokesperson Taher El-Nounou told the Times that, rather than end with a cease-fire now, his group would prefer for the conflict to expand.
"I hope that the state of war with Israel will become permanent on all the borders and that the Arab world will stand with us," he told the Times.
I suspect Hamas's attack will cost Palestine many lives and more land but will not lead to a greater war. Every other time their Arab neighbors went to war for the Palestinians it did not work out well for them; Iran is likely to continue to put pressure on Israel via Hezbollah rather than blow their load with an all-out attack and lose their regional bargaining chip.
It's all part of a strategy, they say, to derail talks over Israel normalizing relations with regional powers — namely, Saudi Arabia — and draw the world's attention to the Palestinian cause.
This may have stalled recognition by Saudi Arabia but things will normalize again once Gaza is pacified. Israel and the US are better international allies to have than Palestine.
Heard this floating around in the webs: Hamas wanted a last standoff sort of fight, which would result in a higher death count vs. what was happening for decades, death of Palestine by smaller conflicts.
Crips/bloods and Independent (RFK Jr.) seem to be pushing for more war at the end of the day, so looks like Iran/Yemen and others will join in on the fight. Biden sent US troops closer to the conflict, so once US deaths are seen conflict on the US side will increase.
Heard somewhere that the people in charge of Israel were also helping fund Hamas so as to increase conflict...
-Tangent thought: reminded me of Clinton proping up Trump, so as to have an easier win in 2016
For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces
The peaceful march to return in 2018 lead to israel mowing down Palestinian civilians and doctors in Gaza and the world ignored it.
Violent resistance against Israeli occupation was quite literally the only tool they had left. Especially when the Saudi doggos started wagging their tail and barking for israel recently