Hamas Leaders Confess to Yearning for ‘Permanent’ Conflict, Disregard for Governing Gaza

By Isabel Keane

Hamas leaders have made the startling revelation that they wish for a “permanent” war against Israel on all fronts following their unexpected attack on October 7. They have also admitted that they had no intention of governing Gaza.

The top brass of the terrorist group defended their shocking onslaught in a series of interviews with The New York Times, with some members justifying the extreme violence and bloodshed that claimed at least 1,400 Israeli lives as a necessary step for advancing their fight against Israel.

The deadly incursion was crucial to “change the entire equation and not just have a clash,” according to Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas’s highest leadership body, in an interview from Qatar published on Wednesday. “We succeeded in putting the Palestinian issue back on the table, and now no one in the region is experiencing calm,” he added.

Al-Hayya and other Hamas members interviewed seemed to dismiss the idea of governing Gaza and expressed hope for a “permanent” war on all fronts. “I hope that the state of war with Israel will become permanent on all the borders and that the Arab world will stand with us,” said Taher El-Nounou, a Hamas media adviser.

The ultimate goal is “not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such,” added al-Hayya. “Hamas, the Qassam and the resistance woke the world up from its deep sleep and showed that this issue must remain on the table,” he affirmed. He made it clear that this battle was not about material needs or improving conditions in Gaza, but was aimed at completely overturning the current situation.

While Hamas leaders anticipated a strong response to their meticulously planned incursion, they asserted that it was necessary due to the growing sense of abandonment around the Palestinian cause. As the war reached the one-month mark, health officials in the Gaza Strip reported over 10,000 deaths due to Israeli airstrikes, including 4,104 children. As of now, at least 240 people remain held hostage by Hamas in the region.

“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,” al-Hayya said. “We had to tell people that the Palestinian cause would not die.”

With Post wires