Senior Hamas official says group able to keep fighting, even after 11 months of war

A senior Hamas official tells AFP that the terror 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 tells AFP during an interview in Istanbul. “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.”

Hamdan says that Hamas wants “joint Palestinian rule” in Gaza once the war ends in the besieged territory.

“Clearly we said that the next day must be Palestinian… the day after the battle is a Palestinian day,” he says.

He adds that the United States is not doing enough to force concessions from Israel that could lead to a truce in the war in Gaza.

“The American administration does not exert sufficient or appropriate pressure on the Israeli side,” says Hamdan. “Rather it is trying to justify the Israeli side’s evasion of any commitment.”

He also says that today’s Houthi missile attack targeting central Israel showed the limits of Israel’s ability to defend itself.

“It is a message to the entire region that Israel is not an immune entity,” Hamdan says.

“Even Israeli capabilities have limits, and the possibility of developing resistance action against the Zionist entity is a serious and real possibility, not a fantasy.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.