Hamas official says despite war losses, terror group has recruited ‘new generations’
In interview to AFP, Istanbul-based Osama Hamdan says Sinwar will never leave Strip, and that Houthi missile attack on central Israel proves ‘even Israeli capabilities have limits’
ISTANBUL, Turkey — A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian Islamist terrorist group has ample resources to continue fighting Israel despite losses sustained over more than 11 months of war in Gaza.
“The resistance has a high ability to continue,” Osama Hamdan told AFP during an interview in Istanbul, without providing any evidence for his claim.
“There were martyrs and there were sacrifices… but in return, there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into the resistance,” he said.
His comments came less than a week after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists that Hamas, whose October 7 attack triggered the war, “no longer exists” as a military formation in Gaza.
“The number of casualties… is much less than what is expected in a battle of this size, level and breadth,” Hamdan claimed on Sunday.
Israel says it has killed some 17,000 Hamas combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. On the eve of the war, Hamas had an estimated 30,000 fighters in its forces, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry does not differentiate between civilians and fighters in its unverified tally of people killed in the war so far, which currently stands at over 40,000.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques. Since the start of Israel’s ground offensive, 344 IDF soldiers have been killed fighting in Gaza.
Months of negotiations aimed at securing a truce — mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar — appear to have once again stalled.
Israel’s announcement this month that the bodies of six hostages had been recovered from a tunnel in Gaza after Hamas executed them spurred an outpouring of grief and anger, leading to a brief general strike and large-scale demonstrations that continued in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Saturday night demanding a deal be reached.
In the interview on Sunday, Hamdan said the United States, Israel’s most important military backer, was not doing enough to force concessions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement.
“The American administration does not exert sufficient or appropriate pressure on the Israeli side,” Hamdan said. “Rather it is trying to justify the Israeli side’s evasion of any commitment.”
During two press conferences after officials announced the deaths of the six hostages earlier this month, Netanyahu said it was Hamas who refused to compromise and vowed “not to give in to pressure” on remaining sticking points.
Israel ‘not immune’
Hamdan said the Houthi ballistic missile attack against Israel on Sunday showed the limits of Israel’s ability to defend itself, including its oft-touted aerial defense system.
“It is a message to the entire region that Israel is not an immune entity,” Hamdan said. “Even Israeli capabilities have limits.”
Hamdan also reiterated Hamas’s view that a terror attack earlier this month in which a Jordanian truck driver shot dead three Israeli guards at a border crossing underscored widespread anger at Israel in the region.
As for Arab leaders who have normalized diplomatic ties with Israel or are considering doing so, Hamdan said they should ask themselves how they would feel if their countries were occupied and the world stood by and watched.
“If you see Israel as a blessing and a gain… give them a piece of your country,” he said, jokingly adding that it could be called “the new Israel.”
‘Day after’ planning
Hamas has ruled Gaza since it took over the enclave in 2007 through a violent coup, but with Israel calling for the group to be eliminated, it is unclear what form it will exist in after the war.
Hamdan said in the interview that it was impossible to imagine a scenario in which Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar would leave the besieged territory.
Sinwar and other leaders “are ready to be martyred thousands of times in Palestine rather than leaving it because everything he is doing is to free Palestine,” Hamdan claimed.
Sinwar — who was released from Israeli prison in 2011 among 1,026 others in exchange for captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit — is considered the mastermind behind the October 7 massacre, which saw terrorists infiltrate southern Israel and kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnap 251.
Hamas has demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, including the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along Egypt’s border that has emerged as a key sticking point in the truce talks.
Hamdan said that Hamas wants “joint Palestinian rule” in Gaza, adding that Hamas officials and representatives of other Palestinian factions would meet soon in Cairo to discuss their post-war vision.
“The day after the battle is a Palestinian day,” he said.
