Khaled Mashal, the leader of Hamas in exile, said that they are still recruiting fighters and producing weapons and that the Palestinian group will rise like a phoenix from the ashes despite heavy losses during the year of war with Israel.
Israel tried to kill Khaled Mashal
A year after the Hamas attack that started the war, Mashal framed the conflict with Israel as part of a larger story spanning 76 years, dating back to what Palestinians call the Nakba, or catastrophe, when many were displaced during the 1948 war that followed the creation of Israel.
Palestinian history is made up of cycles. “We go through phases where we lose martyrs (victims) and we lose part of our military capabilities, but then the Palestinian spirit rises again, like the phoenix, thanks to God.” – Mashal, a senior Hamas figure under the leadership of General Leader Yahya Sinwar, told Reuters.
Mashal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997 after being injected with poison, was the overall leader of Hamas from 1996 to 2017. He says the Islamist group is still able to launch ambushes against Israeli troops.
We lost some of our ammunition and weapons, but Hamas is still recruiting young men and continues to produce a significant part of its ammunition and weapons – said Mashal, without giving details.
He remains influential in Hamas, having played a key role in its leadership for nearly three decades, and is now widely regarded as its diplomatic face. His comments appear to be intended as a signal that the group will fight on regardless of losses, Middle East analysts say.
