Hamas leader-in-exile, Khaled Mashaal claimed the terrorist group would rise "like a phoenix" from the ashes despite heavy losses during a year of war against Israel and that it continues to recruit fighters and manufacture weapons.
One year after the Hamas attack that triggered the war, Mashaal framed the conflict with Israel as part of a broader narrative spanning 76 years, dating back to what Palestinians call the "Nakba" or "catastrophe," when many were displaced during the 1948 war that led to the independence of Israel.
"Palestinian history is made of cycles," claimed Mashaal, a Hamas figure under leader Yahya Sinwar, told Reuters in an interview.
"We go through phases where we lose martyrs, and we lose part of our military capabilities, but then the Palestinian spirit rises again, like the phoenix, thanks to God."
A dangerous leader
Mashaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997 after he was injected with poison and was overall Hamas leader from 1996-2017, said the Islamist terrorist group was still able to mount ambushes against Israeli troops.
"We lost part of our ammunition and weapons, but Hamas is still recruiting young men and continues to manufacture a significant portion of its ammunition and weapons," said Mashaal without providing details.
Mashaal remains influential in Hamas because he has played a crucial role in its leadership for almost three decades. He is one of six Hamas leaders indicted by the US Justice Department on terrorism charges over the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
"Overall, I would say (Hamas is) alive and kicking still and ... will probably come back at some point in Gaza," said Joost R. Hiltermann, Middle East and North Africa Program Director of the International Crisis Group.
He claimed Israel had not spelled out a plan for Gaza when the war ends, and he believes this could allow Hamas to re-establish itself, although perhaps not with such strength or in the same form.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment on Mashaal's remarks.
No prospects for peace
Israel began its offensive against Hamas after the terrorist group killed around 1,200 people and took 250 hostages on Oct. 7 last year.
Israel says Hamas no longer exists as an organized military structure and has been reduced to guerrilla tactics. At least a third of the Palestinian fatalities in Gaza, around 17,000 people, are Hamas terrorists, according to Israeli officials. About 350 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat in Gaza.
Mashaal said he saw no prospects for peace while Netanyahu's government is in power. Israel blames Hamas, whose founding charter calls for Israel's destruction, for the failure to secure peace.