Hamas’s prime chief exterior Gaza has instructed the BBC that his group was justified in fomenting a disaster within the Center East that killed hundreds within the area final yr.
Beneath questioning from BBC worldwide editor Jeremy Bowen, Hamas deputy chief Khalil Haya denied intensive proof that Hamas fighters focused civilians within the assault on October 7 final yr.
Some 1,200 folks, principally Israeli civilians, have been killed, and greater than 250 have been taken hostage in Gaza. Hamas is designated a terrorist group by the UK and different governments.
Haya stated final yr’s assault on October 7 was essential to place the problem of Palestinian statehood again on the worldwide agenda.
Requested whether or not he regretted the Israeli assaults that killed greater than 40,000 Gazans, he stated Israel’s occupation of land that Palestinians imagine belongs to them was the foundation reason behind violence and killings within the Center East.
With out it, he stated, the cycle of violence within the Center East wouldn’t finish. Haya is Hamas’s most senior determine, after chief Yahya Sinwar, who’s believed to be in Gaza.
The interview was carried out in Doha, the place a lot of Hamas’s political management relies. About an hour after the interview was taped, Iran struck Israel with ballistic missiles.
