Hamas has revealed its plan for a ‘permanent state of war’ with Israel, urging allies in the Arab world to ‘stand behind’ Gaza amid fears the conflict could overspill into a regional conflict.
Taher El-Nounou, a Hamas media adviser, told the New York Times the dire events unfolding in the Middle East since October 7 are necessary ‘to change the entire equation and not just have a clash’.
‘We succeeded in putting the Palestinian issue back on the table, and now no one in the region is experiencing calm,’ El-Nounou said.
‘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.’ At least 10,569 Palestinians including 4,324 children, have been killed and 26,457 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed in the last month, most of whom died during Hamas’ initial incursion into southern Israel. The comments come as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Israel could take indefinite ‘security responsibility’ over the Strip if or when the conflict abates. Netanyahu told ABC News on Tuesday that Gaza should be governed by ‘those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas.
‘I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it.
‘When we don’t have that security responsibility, what we have is the eruption of Hamas terror on a scale that we couldn’t imagine.’ Netanyahu also said resolutely there would be ‘no cease-fire, general cease-fire, in Gaza without the release of our hostages.’
‘As far as tactical little pauses, an hour here, an hour there. We’ve had therm before, I suppose, [we] will check the circumstances in order to enable goods, humanitarian good to come in, or our hostages, individual hostages to leave.’
Hamas are holding at least 240 people hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities, taking scores back into the enclave on October 7. The hostages include 33 children, older people, foreigners or dual citizens, and Israeli soldiers.
Four civilian hostages have so far been released – two on October 20 and two on October 24. Qatar is currently mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas for the potential release of between 10 to 15 more hostages in exchange for a short ceasefire, it was reported today.
The ceasefire would last between one and two days, during which up to 15 hostages captured by Hamas gunmen on October 7 will be released, a source briefed on the talks said today.
Netanyahu’s other comments on the potential ‘security responsibility’ over Gaza prompted questions from onlookers including the United States. ‘Reoccupation by Israeli forces of Gaza is not the right thing to do,’ White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.
But he added: ‘Israel and the United States are friends and we do not have to agree on every single word… Netanyahu and Biden are not always exactly in the same place on every issue.’
