Top Hamas official slams movement, says it's responsible for tragic situation in Gaza
Ahmed Yousef, who previously served as advisor to former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, made his criticism in an article he published over the weekend.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHA Palestinian looks out from the remains of his house in Beit Hanun, a town in the northern Gaza Strip.(photo credit: REUTERS)
A top Hamas official has strongly criticized his movement, holding it responsible for the harsh and tragic situation inside the Gaza Strip.Ahmed Yousef, who previously served as advisor to former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, made his criticism in an article he published over the weekend.Yousef lashed out at Hamas mosque preachers, saying they were using the podiums to sound meaningless words.He called upon the preachers to “live the bitter reality and stop deluding people that we are living in a reality of a utopia.“Everyone is shocked because of the reality we are living in and people don’t stop talking about the pain and tragedy,” the Hamas official said.He said that Hamas rulers have failed to improve the living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.“We have waited 10 years to see the Virtuous City that some promised us,” Yousef said, referring to the decade-old rule of Hamas over the Gaza Strip. “But unfortunately, conditions have worsened and the poor have become even more poor.“We have terrified students, who were dreaming of getting a job, offering them a bleak future. We drove these students to ride boats of death in the hope of living.”Yousef’s last remark refers to scores of Palestinians who fled the Gaza Strip in the past 10 years aboard smugglers’ boats with the hope of setting in Europe.
