Essentially the most senior chief of Hamas outdoors Gaza has advised the BBC that the disaster his organisation provoked within the Center East, which has led to hundreds of deaths throughout the area within the final yr, is justified.
Challenged by BBC worldwide editor Jeremy Bowen, Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy chief of Hamas, denied overwhelming proof that Hamas fighters focused civilians through the assaults on 7 October final yr.
Round 1,200 folks, principally Israeli civilians, had been killed and greater than 250 taken into Gaza as hostages. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UK and different governments.
Al-Hayya stated the 7 October assaults final yr had been obligatory to position the difficulty of Palestinian statehood again on the worldwide agenda.
Pressed on whether or not he regretted an offensive that led to the deaths of greater than 40,000 Gazans in Israeli assaults, he stated Israel’s occupation of land Palestinians consider is theirs was on the root of the violence and killing within the Center East.
With out it, he stated, the cycle of violence within the Center East wouldn’t finish. Al-Hayya is essentially the most senior man in Hamas after the chief, Yahya Sinwar, who’s believed to be in Gaza.
The interview occurred in Doha, the place many of the political management of Hamas relies. Iran attacked Israel with ballistic missiles round an hour after the interview was recorded.