Palestinian Hamas says in a document released Sunday that its October 7 attack on Israel was “a necessary step” against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, and acknowledges that the “chaos” has led to “mistakes.”
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The Islamist movement, in power in Gaza since 2007, calls for an end to “Israeli aggression”, states that the “Palestinian people” can “decide on the future” of the coastal territory and rejects “international or Israeli projects”.
In this document of almost twenty pages, the first of its kind, Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, states that it wants to provide “its version of the facts”.
While the October 7 attack on Israel killed 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data, Hamas insists it “did its best to avoid harming civilians “.
“Mistakes may have been made during the implementation of the al-Aqsa Flood operation, due to the sudden collapse of the military and security apparatus along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip,” assures Hamas.
“Avoiding harm to civilians, especially children, women and the elderly, is a religious and moral obligation of the fighters of the al-Qassam brigades,” he continues, citing their armed wing.
AFP
Investigations are underway in Israel after reports of sexual violence.
On October 7, around 250 people were taken hostage in these attacks, unprecedented in their violence and scale, and, according to Israel, 132 people remain captive in the panhandle – 27 of whom have died, again according to a tally based on AFP. on official Israeli data.
Since then, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health, more than 25,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of them women, children and adolescents, have been killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli bombings and military operations.
In its report, the Islamist movement also calls for “an immediate end to the Israeli aggression in Gaza, the murders and ethnic cleansing committed against the entire population of Gaza.”
Regarding the future of the territory, Hamas states that it “categorically rejects any international or Israeli project aimed at deciding the future of the Gaza Strip”, and underlines that “the Palestinian people have the ability to decide on their own future and to “organize the own internal affairs” insisting that “no one in the world” has the right to decide for them.
2024-01-21 16:08:35
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