The Palestinian group offers its account of what occurred earlier than and through the assault on communities in southern Israel.
The Palestinian group Hamas has mentioned there have been “faults” within the October 7 assault it led on southern Israel, however claimed its fighters solely focused Israeli troopers and other people carrying weapons.
In a 16-page report titled “Our Narrative” and printed on Sunday, Hamas, which governs Gaza, mentioned it wished to “make clear” the background and dynamics of the shock assault it calls Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
In its first public report because the assault, Hamas mentioned it was “a needed step and a standard response to confront all Israeli conspiracies towards the Palestinian folks”.
Early on October 7, Hamas fighters stormed communities alongside Israel’s southern fence with Gaza. Not less than 1,139 folks, principally civilians, have been killed within the assault, in response to an Al Jazeera tally primarily based on official Israeli statistics, and about 240 others have been seized as captives.
Round 100 of the captives have been launched throughout a seven-day truce in late November in trade for the discharge of a whole bunch of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Israeli authorities have accused Hamas fighters of committing struggle crimes through the assault, together with torture, rape and mutilation. Hamas has strongly rejected allegations of sexual violence and or mutilation.
‘Possibly some faults occurred’
The report mentioned Hamas deliberate to focus on Israeli navy websites and to seize troopers, which could possibly be used to stress the Israeli authorities to launch hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
The group mentioned that avoiding harming civilians “is a non secular and ethical dedication” by fighters of Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.
“If there was any case of concentrating on civilians; it occurred by chance and in the midst of the confrontation with the occupation forces,” learn the report.
It added that “possibly some faults occurred” through the assault “as a result of fast collapse of the Israeli safety and navy system, and the chaos precipitated alongside the areas close to Gaza.
“Many Israelis have been killed by the Israeli military and police attributable to their confusion,” it added.
Israel responded to the assault with a devastating bombardment of Gaza, which has been underneath an Israeli blockade for 17 years, killing greater than 25,000 folks – principally ladies and youngsters, in response to Palestinian authorities within the territory.
Palestinian officers and human rights teams have accused Israel of committing struggle crimes in its assault on Gaza.
The Hamas report additionally addressed the problem of post-war Gaza, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his opposition to Palestinian statehood.
“We stress that the Palestinian folks have the capability to determine their future and to rearrange their inner affairs,” the report mentioned, including that “no social gathering on this planet” had the fitting to determine on their behalf.
The report additionally listed the explanations that led to the assault, citing Israel’s marketing campaign of settlements’ development “and Judaization of the Palestinian lands within the occupied West Financial institution and Jerusalem”, and the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians from 2000 till this yr.
