More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the month since Hamas’ terrorist attacks inside southern Israel, the group’s health ministry in Gaza says.

But Hamas officials say the mounting death toll, believed to include thousands of children, has not caused the group to regret its actions in southern Israel, which Israeli officials said killed 1,400 people.

In fact, Hamas leaders say that their goal was to trigger this very response and that they’re still hoping for a bigger war. It’s all part of a strategy, they say, to derail talks over Israel normalizing relations with regional powers — namely, Saudi Arabia — and draw the world’s attention to the Palestinian cause.

Hamas, these officials say, is more interested in the destruction of Israel than what it sees as the temporary hardships faced by Palestinians under Israeli bombardment.

“What could change the equation was a great act, and without a doubt, it was known that the reaction to this great act would be big,” Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the group’s governing politburo, told The New York Times in an interview.

  • qnick@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    What choice did they realistically have?

    Victim blaming as it is. The choice was not to murder people.

    • Limitless_screaming@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The choices were: 1. die slowly while no one is looking 2. make it quicker and put it on full display, hoping that something might happen

      What would you choose? The West bank shows that peace isn’t and was never an option.

      • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        As I said in an earlier comment:

        "Hamas is not Palestinians. Hamas steals aid meant for Palestinians. They embed themselves in civilian areas. They take investments that other groups make to improve Palestinian lives, and dismantle them to use for weaponry. They stockpile food, medicine, and water and don’t share it with civilians when Israel cuts off those crucial resources.

        The leaders of Hamas are rich fucks living cushy lives in the UAE and could not care less about Palestinians. This isn’t some freedom fighter group that’s out of options. It’s terrorists who purposely co-opt language from peaceful protestors to make them sound like extremists."

        Don’t confuse Palestinians with Hamas, they deserve so much better than that.

        • Limitless_screaming@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          WOW, Hamas sure don’t sound like lovely folk. It’s very sad that they’re the only choice Palestinians have. of course, ignoring the option to make peace with the bulldozer currently wrecking your home, and the soldiers about to burn your field and abduct members of your family to be tortured in their prisons.