Hamas: US Is Dreaming If It Wants to Force Palestinian Group Out of Gaza Governance
A member of Hamas’s political bureau rejected any attempt to exclude the group from future rule in Gaza, in response to an earlier statement by US National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby that Hamas could not be part of the governance equation in Gaza.
“I think the Americans are dreaming a lot,” said Ghazi Hamad, in an interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic.
“The Americans who failed in Iraq, who failed in Afghanistan, who failed in Somalia … now they want to restructure Gaza?” he added.
Hamad said that any change in the governance of Gaza was an internal Palestinian matter, adding that Hamas would be involved in any decision.
He also warned the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank not to make a deal with the US and Israel at the expense of Hamas, as the question of what happens in Gaza if Hamas is defeated grows.
“You must not cooperate with the Americans,” Hamad said, addressing the PA.
“And don’t [go into Gaza] on the back of the American tank,” he added.
He said that PA President Mahmoud Abbas should refuse any US attempts for it to takeover Gaza, but added that a lack of public comments on the matter from the PA “raises a question mark”.
In response to Israeli military claims that its forces were in the heart of Gaza City, Hamad asked for the Israelis to show evidence of their advances, and added that the Israelis did not want to rescue the captives being held in the Gaza Strip. Israel has publicly stated that the rescue of the captives is a priority of their military operation.
Israel waged the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity.
Tel Aviv has also imposed a complete siege on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living in the coastal sliver.
Since the bombardment of Gaza began, Israeli air strikes have killed 10,328 Palestinians, including 4,237 children and 2,719 women, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
