Hamas: Israeli Attacks Are "Holocaust"
This was written by CBS News' George Baghdadi.
Khaled Mishaal, the political bureau chairman of the Hamas Movement, said Thursday that Israel's "holocaust aggression" on Gaza had completely failed to hit the group's military targets, but rather succeeded in carrying out "shocking massacres" against Palestinian civilians.
"We're in the twentieth day of war against our people in Gaza … Israel has so far failed to achieve any of its aims in breaking Hamas or the brave resistance of our people … it only succeeded in killing the civilians and in the destruction of buildings," he told a visiting Yemeni delegation. His comments were aired on Arab satellite televisions Al-Quds and Al Jazeera.
The top leader of the hard-line Palestinian faction repeated his stance that any possible truce would see light only when Israel "halts the aggression, withdraws its occupation troops from the Gaza Strip, lifts the siege and opens all border crossings, including Rafah."
Egypt and Hamas have been in face-to-face discussions over the past week to try to reach a deal for a 10-day cease-fire in Gaza, where the death toll from the Israeli offensive has exceeded 1,000, about half of them civilians, including 300 children and teenagers. More than 5,000 Palestinians have been wounded.
Israel showed no signs of slowing its bruising offensive, striking scores of targets. One strike Thursday killed Said Siam, the Interior Minister in the deposed Hamas government in Gaza.
"Victory will be on our side, God willing, despite the enemy's war machine and the backing of President Bush's administration … Israel lost its mind ... it is revenging by killing the civilians after it failed in front of the resistance in Gaza. I have no worries about the victory of our people in Gaza and Palestine … Gaza is making the history, and you will see that post-Gaza will be different from pre-Gaza," he added.
"We're engaged in a battle that has been imposed on us … the battle is hard, and we feel sorry for the civilian victims of the Israeli aggression … but there is also the image of the brave resistance … Israel hasn't been able so far to stop rocket firing or capture any of our resistance … Israel will be humiliated in this war, God's will," Mishaal said.
He suggested the Israeli war is not a war against Hamas only "but against all Palestinian people, against the Palestinian cause and against the whole Arab nation."
"We feel pain from the Arab official stances. Arab leaders are in urgent need to come to the backing of Gaza to restore some of the lost dignity … Gaza deserves more than an Arab summit ... we need actions and stances at this very moment," Mishaal said.