ANKARA, October 11. /TASS/. Fighters from militant Palestinian group Hamas launched their attack on Israel in order to pre-empt an offensive operation that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were planning against it, Hamas Politburo member Mahmoud Merdavi said in an interview with Turkish publication Aydinlik.
"According to reconnaissance data obtained by the resistance, Israel had already been preparing an operation. At the initial stage, murdering the leaders of the resistance was to be organized, [and was then] to be followed by operations in Gaza and other regions. This operation was launched as a response to all that," he told the Turkish newspaper. "The final goal of the resistance in this operation is to ensure a life of freedom to the Palestinian people, letting our nation live a decent life," he added.
"The Israeli occupants ignore" the Palestinian people, Merdavi said. "As long as this continues, we will persevere with these operations and our resistance. We won’t stop until we secure our rights as guaranteed by international law," the senior Palestinian official emphasized. "The operation is ongoing," he concluded.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip as it has been launching rocket attacks on Gaza as well as some districts in Lebanon and Syria.
According to the latest official data, 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since the renewed outbreak of violence, while over 5,000 others have suffered wounds. In Israel, at least 1,200 people have lost their lives and roughly 3,000 have been wounded.