 "Oct 7 attack will always be source of pride for us, says Hamas leader after Gaza ceasefire deal")
Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya has hailed the October 7 attack on Israel and said it remains as a source of pride for Palestinians.
On October 7, 20243, Hamas led a coalition of Palestinian terrorist groups and invaded Israel by land, air, and sea. In a rampage that lasted for days, it killed around 1,200 people, injured thousands, and abducted 251 people and took them to the Gaza Strip as hostages. Israel retaliated with a war on Hamas that has since reduced Hamas to a shadow of its former self, killed its leaders, and devastated much of Gaza.
After more than a year of negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt and facilitated by the United States, Israel and Hamas on Wednesday reached a deal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and release of hostages held by terrorists. Hours after the deal, Al-Haya, who was Hamas’ chief negotiator in indirect talks with Israel, announced the deal as the defeat of Israel and reiterated the group’s commitment to the destruction of Israel.
‘October 7 attack will forever be a source of pride’
Referring to one of the worst terrorist attacks in history and the biggest single-day killing of Jews since the Holocaust, Al-Haya said that the attack “will forever be a source of pride for our people”.
Al-Haya dubbed the deal with Israel as a “historic moment” and as a defeat for Israel.
“Our people have thwarted the declared and hidden goals of the occupation. Today we prove that the occupation will never defeat our people and their resistance,” said Al-Hayya, according to an English translation of the speech.
Praising the Oct. 7 attack, he said it was “military accomplishment” and “a source of pride for our people”.
Reiterating the commitment to the destruction of Israel, Al-Haya said that Hamas would continue to work to remove Israel from its territories.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Our people will expel the occupation from our lands and from Jerusalem in the earliest time possible,” said Al-Haya.
Hamas along with its ally Iran reject Israel’s right to exist and are committed to its destruction.
Al-Haya went on to say that Palestinians “will never see a moment of weakness from us”.
Even as Hamas has been ousted as the ruler of Gaza and most of its fighters at the beginning of the war have been killed and thousands more have been imprisoned, it is far from being eradicated. The US intelligence assessment has said that Hamas has replaced nearly all terrorists killed by Israel with new recruits. Moreover, the lack of any policing or governance mechanism in Gaza as Israel has neither set up interim administration nor allowed the Palestinian Authority (PA) to take over areas freed of Hamas, the terrorist group continues to have indirect control of large swathes of Gaza.
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