From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Hamas official: We expected more support from Iran
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
Prominent Hamas political bureau member Moussa Abu Marzouk says that Hamas expected more support and participation from Iran in the terror group’s ongoing war with Israel.
In an interview with the Turkish Arabic-language news outlet TRT, Abu Marzouk says that there is “no coordination [with Iran], only talks.”
This is in spite of a long-standing strategy of “unifying the battlefields” between Palestinian terror factions and Hezbollah in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon under Iranian coordination.
On Saturday, the Hamas official had said in another interview that Hamas political leaders were not aware of plans for the October 7 onslaught, noting that they had been “surprised by the date – but not by the actions.”
