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By Samia Nakhoul, Ahmed Jadallah and Andrew Mills
(Reuters) – Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal stated the Palestinian group would rise “like a phoenix” from the ashes regardless of heavy losses throughout a 12 months of battle with Israel, and that it continues to recruit fighters and manufacture weapons.
One 12 months after the Hamas assault that triggered the battle, Meshaal framed the battle with Israel as a part of a broader narrative spanning 76 years, relationship again to what Palestinians name the “Nakba” or “disaster,” when many have been displaced throughout the 1948 battle that accompanied the creation of Israel.
“Palestinian historical past is fabricated from cycles,” Meshaal, 68, a senior Hamas determine beneath total chief Yahya Sinwar, informed Reuters in an interview.
“We undergo phases the place we lose martyrs (victims) and we lose a part of our army capabilities, however then the Palestinian spirit rises once more, just like the phoenix, due to God.”
Meshaal, who survived an Israeli assassination try in 1997 after he was injected with poison and was total Hamas chief from 1996-2017, stated the Islamist militant group was nonetheless in a position to mount ambushes in opposition to Israeli troops.
Hamas additionally fired 4 missiles at Gaza on Monday morning, the anniversary of the Hamas assault on southern Israel that triggered the battle. All have been intercepted.
“We misplaced a part of our ammunition and weapons, however Hamas continues to be recruiting younger males and continues to fabricate a good portion of its ammunition and weapons,” stated Meshaal, with out offering particulars.
Meshaal stays influential in Hamas as a result of he has performed an important function in its management for nearly three many years, and is broadly seen now as its diplomatic face. His feedback seem supposed as a sign that the group will struggle on no matter its losses, Center East analysts stated.
“General I’d say (Hamas is) alive and kicking nonetheless and … will most likely come again in some unspecified time in the future in Gaza,” stated Joost R. Hiltermann, Center East and North Africa Program Director of the Worldwide Disaster Group.
He stated Israel had not spelled out a plan for Gaza when the battle ends, and this might enable Hamas to re-establish itself though maybe not with such energy or in the identical type.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace declined touch upon Meshaal’s remarks.
‘TICKING TIME BOMB’
Israel started its offensive in opposition to Hamas after about 1,200 individuals have been killed and round 250 taken hostage within the Hamas assault on Oct. 7 final 12 months, based on Israeli tallies.
A lot of Gaza has been laid to waste and about 42,000 Palestinians have been killed within the offensive, based on Palestinian well being officers.
Israel says Hamas now not exists as an organised army construction and has been diminished to guerrilla techniques. No less than a 3rd of the Palestinian fatalities in Gaza, round 17,000 individuals, are Hamas fighters, based on Israeli officers. About 350 Israeli troopers have been killed in fight in Gaza.
Meshaal stated he noticed no prospects for peace whereas Netanyahu’s authorities is in energy. Israel blames Hamas, whose founding constitution requires Israel’s destruction, for the failure to safe peace.
“So long as the (Israeli) occupation exists, the area stays a ticking time bomb,” Meshaal stated.
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