Hamas leader in exile Khalid Meshaal said despite heavy losses in the year-long war with Israel, the Palestinian organization would rise “like a phoenix” from the ashes, adding that the He said he continues to recruit and manufacture weapons.
A year after the Hamas attack that triggered the war, Meshaal traces the conflict with Israel to what Palestinians called the “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” when many fled during the 1948 war. , assembled as part of a broader story spanning 76 years. It was associated with the founding of Israel.
“Palestinian history is made up of cycles,” Meshaal, 68, a senior official under Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, told Reuters in an interview.
“We will go through a phase where we will lose our martyrs and lose some of our military capabilities, but then, thanks to God, the Palestinian spirit will rise again like a phoenix.”
Meshaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997 by being injected with poison and served as overall leader of Hamas from 1996 to 2017, said the Islamic extremist group remains capable of launching ambush attacks on Israeli forces. He said he was able to do it.
Hamas also launched four missiles into Gaza yesterday morning, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on southern Israel that sparked the war. All were intercepted.
“Although we have lost some of our ammunition and weapons, Hamas is still recruiting young people and continues to manufacture a significant portion of our ammunition and weapons,” Meshaal said, without providing further details.
Meshaal remains influential in Hamas because he played a key role in the group’s leadership for almost three decades and is now widely seen as the face of Hamas’s diplomacy. Middle East analysts said his comments appeared to be intended to signal that the group intends to fight on, no matter the cost.
“Overall, (Hamas) is still alive and well, but will probably return to Gaza at some point,” said Joost R. Hiltermann, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the International Crisis Group. ” he said.
