“Hamas not a terror organisation…”: Palestine envoy to India

Kozhikode (Kerala) [India] : Coming out heavily against Israel, Palestinian Ambassador to India, Adnan Abu Al-Haija on Thursday said that Hamas is “not a terror organisation” but “freedom fighters” fighting against the occupation.

Referring to Israel, he said that the “occupation” is “terrorist” and should leave Palestine. He further affirmed that Palestinians should be allowed to live like any other country in “peace and freedom.”

Al-Haija also thanked the people of the state of Kerala for supporting the people of Palestine during the ongoing conflict.

Speaking to reporters in Kozhikode, the Palestinian envoy said, “I would like to mention here, that Hamas is not a terrorist organisation. Hamas is a freedom fighter organisation. They are fighting the occupation, the occupation is terrorist and should leave our home. We should live like any other country in the world in peace and freedom”.

“I would like to present my thanks to the people of Kerala, for their support to the Palestinian cause and Palestinian people,” he added.

Notably, ever since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, Palestinian authority has never condemned the assault.

Earlier, the Palestinian envoy had told ANI that unless the “Palestinian state is established with East Jerusalem as capital” the conflict with Israel will continue forever.

On October 7, Hamas launched a surprise terror attack on Israel. Over 2000 terrorists breached Israeli borders and launched a massive assault killing over 1200 people and leaving many injured.

Hamas also took over 200 people with them as hostages into Gaza Strip on October 7.

Following this, Israel launched a strong counter-offensive targeting the Hamas terror units in Gaza.

However, the Israeli air assault and ground operations drew frowns from rights groups and the Arab world over the mounting civilian death toll.

According to the Hamas-run ministry in Gaza, over 14,000 people, including over 5,000 children, have perished in Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli offensive.

Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas are currently observing an operational pause in fighting under a hostage deal. Initially, the deal was for four days but has since been extended to the seventh day.

Six more Israeli hostages were released by Hamas on Thursday. Earlier on Thursday, Hamas released two Israeli hostages, bringing today’s total to eight, according to The Times of Israel.