Khalil al-Hayya, a deputy of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said the terror group launched its attack on Israel on Octoer 7, in order to change the entire equation in the Middle East. “We succeeded in putting the Palestinian issue back on the table, and now no one in the region is experiencing calm,” he told the New York Times in an interview published on Wednesday.
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He said Palestinian leaders felt their cause was being shoved to the side and only drastic measures would revive it. “We succeeded in putting the Palestinian issue back on the table, and now no one in the region is experiencing calm.”
Sinwar's deputy said Hamas had wider goals than running Gaza. “Hamas’s goal is not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such,” said Mr. al-Hayya, the politburo member. “Hamas, the Qassam and the resistance woke the world up from its deep sleep and showed that this issue must remain on the table.”
“This battle was not because we wanted fuel or laborers,” he added. “It did not seek to improve the situation in Gaza. This battle is to completely overthrow the situation.”
According to the New York Times, which has been conducting interviews with leaders of Hamas in recent weeks as well as with Israeli and Western officials, it appears that the October 7 attack was planned and executed by a small group of Hamas leaders in Gaza who did not share the information with the leadership abroad, or other regional allies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon. Therefore, many outside Gaza were surprised by the scope of the attack and level of atrocities that had taken place and even the Gaza ruling terror group was surprised by the success of its assault and that the number of dead and abducted was higher than expected.
According to Hamas health officials, over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. al-Hayya told the paper it was clear that Israel would react to the attack by bombing Gaza. “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,” Mr. al-Hayya said.
Two officials whose governments are in contact with Hamas said the aim of the October 7 attack was to take as many IDF soldiers, hostage as possible, in order to swap them with Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
One security source said Hamas expected Palestinians to rise up elsewhere after the assault and that mass demonstrations would force Arab governments and regional allies to join in the war.
“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,” Taher El-Nounou, a Hamas media adviser, told the Times.