Hamas Will Keep Ruling Gaza, Says Its Top Official In Lebanon
Hamas will not accept a puppet government in the Gaza Strip and will
remain in the territory, said on Monday the leader of the Palestinian
Islamist group in Lebanon.
Israel has said it intends to destroy
Hamas in retaliation for the group's October 7 attack which Israeli
officials say killed at least 1,400 people.
"To those who think that Hamas will disappear, Hamas will remain
entrenched in the conscience of our people, and no force on Earth can
annihilate or marginalise it," Osama Hamdan told a news conference.
"Our people will not allow the United States to impose its plans to
create an administration that suits it and that suits the occupation
(Israel), and our people will not accept a new Vichy government," he
said.
The Israeli army has bombarded the Gaza Strip and sent in
ground troops in a military operation that has killed more than 10,000
people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
On Tuesday,
in Congress, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that "at some
point" the Palestinian Authority (PA), led by Palestinian president
Mahmud Abbas, should take control of the Gaza Strip.
International third parties could possibly play a role in the intervening period, Blinken said.
And
Abbas, whose Fatah party is Hamas's rival, said on Sunday that "the
Gaza Strip is an integral part of the State of Palestine".
The PA was driven out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007.
"We
will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a
comprehensive political solution that includes all of the West Bank,
including east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip" -- the areas the PA
proposes for a Palestinian state -- Abbas said after Blinken's visit to
Ramallah.
