'Hamas has high ability to continue Gaza war'

ISTANBUL:

A senior Hamas official told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian Islamist movement had ample resources to continue fighting Israel despite losses sustained over more than 11 months of war in Gaza.

"The resistance has a high ability to continue," Osama Hamdan told AFP during an interview in Istanbul.

"There were martyrs and there were sacrifices... but in return there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into the resistance."

His comments came less than a week after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists that Hamas, whose October 7 attack triggered the war, "no longer exists" as a military formation in Gaza.

"The number of casualties... is much less than what is expected in a battle of this size, level and breadth," Hamdan said on Sunday.

Hamdan said the United States, Israel's most important military backer, was not doing enough to force concessions from Netanyahu that would end the bloodshed.

"The American administration does not exert sufficient or appropriate pressure on the Israeli side," Hamdan said.

"Rather it is trying to justify the Israeli side's evasion of any commitment."

The war between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas has drawn in other Iran-backed groups in the Middle East, notably Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Huthi rebels in Yemen.

On Sunday the Huthis claimed a missile attack on central Israel that, while producing no casualties, triggered a rush to shelters and added to regional tensions.

Hamdan said the attack showed the limits of Israel's ability to defend itself, including its oft-touted aerial defence system. "It is a message to the entire region that Israel is not an immune entity," Hamdan said.

As for Arab leaders who have normalised diplomatic ties with Israel or are considering doing so, Hamdan said they should ask themselves how they would feel if their countries were occupied and the world stood by and watched.

"If you see Israel as a blessing and a gain... give them a piece of your country," he said, jokingly adding that it could be called "the new Israel".

Hamdan said on Sunday it was impossible to imagine a scenario in which Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar would leave the besieged territory.