'A world war': Hamas says fighting off multi-national war on Gaza

A senior Hamas official says the resistance movement and other Gaza-based groups are fighting off a full-scale multi-national onslaught against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, stressing that Palestinian fighters will determine the fate of the war.

Mousa Abu Marzook, a member of the Hamas politburo, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Iran’s Arabic-language television news network al-Alam TV broadcast on Sunday night.

“Hamas is engaged in a multi-national war involving the United States, certain Western countries and the Zionist regime. Nonetheless, the resistance front is mightily fighting off the Zionist regime and has a clear vision in this regard.

“We determine the destiny of the Gaza war, not the Zionist regime or the United States, which mistakenly believed they could destroy Hamas within a week and redraw the map of Gaza as they wish,” Abu Marzook said.

He added that Washington and the Tel Aviv regime initially announced they wanted to destroy Hamas and its military wing the al-Qassam Brigades, release Israeli captives and replace Hamas with their desired government in Gaza, but they failed to achieve any of the declared goals.

“They even failed in the management of the Rafah border crossing until they had to agree to Hamas control over it. They tried to create chaos in Gaza by sending their own mercenaries into the territory under the guise of humanitarian aid workers. They were not successful in such a plot as well. They must coordinate whatever they want to do in Gaza with Hamas. It is Hamas who will shape the future of Gaza,” Abu Marzook noted.

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Elsewhere in his remarks, the top Hamas official praised the operations by Iraqi, Lebanese and Yemeni resistance forces in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, stressing that the groups’ attacks have yielded favorable results but have not managed to stop the ongoing Israeli onslaught.

Abu Marzook also lauded Iran’s extensive retaliatory missile and drone strikes against the occupied territories in response to the Israeli regime’s terrorist attack of April 1 against the Islamic Republic’s diplomatic premises in the Syrian capital Damascus.

“Operation True Promise forced the Zionist regime to change its conduct in the Gaza strip in such a way that no military aircraft flew over Gaza at the time, thousands of displaced people returned from the south to the north, aid delivers reached northern Gaza, and the number of the occupation forces’ atrocities dropped markedly,” he pointed out.

Abu Marzook finally noted that unfolding developments in West Asia will change the course of the Gaza war, emphasizing resistance forces in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen will undoubtedly have a significant influence on the matter.

“They are at war, and changing policies in the region will set out new rules of engagement,” he concluded.

Israel waged its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 34,454 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 77,575 others.

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