Senior Hamas terrorists tell The New York Times the invasion of Israel last month not aimed at improving conditions in Gaza, but creating state of permanent war on all of Israel’s borders.
By World Israel News
The Hamas terrorist organization’s invasion of southwestern Israel last month was aimed at creating a state of “permanent” total war between Israel and its neighbors, Hamas leaders told The New York Times.
In a report published by the Times Wednesday, senior Hamas terrorists said the October 7th attacks on Israel, the massacres of civilians, and the abduction of over 240 Israelis were not aimed at securing concessions from Israel to benefit the people of Gaza, but to “change the entire equation” of the Arab-Israeli conflict, by creating a “permanent” state of war with Israel on each of the Jewish state’s borders.
“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,” said Hamas media consultant Taher El-Nounou.
Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council from Hamas, said that the October 7th attacks were intended to reignite the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“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,” al-Hayya said. “We had to tell people that the Palestinian cause would not die.”
“We succeeded in putting the Palestinian issue back on the table, and now no one in the region is experiencing calm.”
Al-Hayya added that Hamas is not interested in governing the Gaza Strip or improving the lives of the coastal enclave’s residents.
“Hamas’s goal is not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such. Hamas, the Qassam [Brigades, Hamas’ military wing] and the resistance woke the world up from its deep sleep and showed that this issue must remain on the table.”
“This battle was not because we wanted fuel or laborers. It did not seek to improve the situation in Gaza. This battle is to completely overthrow the situation.”
More than 1,400 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were slaughtered during the October 7th invasion, during which some three thousand Gaza terrorists – most of them from the Hamas terror organization – breached the security barrier and overran Israeli army positions near the frontier.
From there, the terrorists seized control of 22 border towns and neighborhoods in southwestern Israel, gunning down passing drivers, slaughtering residents in their homes, and decapitating dozens of victims.