Former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (photo), who lives in exile, considers the radical Islamist Palestinian organization’s willingness to fight to be unbroken even a year after the start of the Gaza war.
Although the group has suffered heavy losses, it continues to recruit fighters, produce weapons and will “rise like a phoenix from the ashes,” he said in an interview with Reuters news agency. Hamas is still capable of fighting and can plan ambushes against Israeli forces.
“Hamas is still recruiting young men”
“We have lost some of our ammunition and weapons, but Hamas is still recruiting young men and continues to produce a large part of its ammunition and weapons,” Meshaal, who holds a senior position under top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, told the newspaper. Reuters news agency.
He gave no details. “Palestinian history is made of cycles,” the 68-year-old explained. “We go through phases where we lose martyrs and lose some of our military capabilities, but then the Palestinian spirit rises again, like the phoenix.”
According to Meshaal, he sees no prospects for peace as long as the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in power in Israel. Israel, on the other hand, blames Hamas, whose foundation calls for Israel’s destruction, for the failure of its peace efforts.
Was the top leader of Hamas for 20 years
Meshaal, who survived an Israeli poison attack in 1997, was Hamas’ top leader from 1996 to 2017. He remains influential within Hamas and is now widely seen as the diplomatic face of Hamas. He is one of six Hamas leaders against whom the US Justice Department has filed terrorism charges over the October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Middle Eastern experts see Meshaal’s comments as a sign that Hamas will keep fighting regardless of losses. It could also benefit from the fact that Israel has not yet presented a plan for the future of the Gaza Strip after the war ends, said Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group think tank. This could allow Hamas to reestablish itself, although perhaps not with the same strength or form as before.
Source: Krone
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