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Hamas sought to put Palestinian issue back on negotiating table, NYT reports

"We succeeded in putting the Palestinian issue back on the table, and now no one in the region is experiencing calm," Khalil al-Hayya, one of Hamas’ leaders said

NEW YORK, November 8. /TASS/. Hamas started a conflict with Israel to resume talks about the future of Palestine, The New York Times reported, citing leaders of the group.

The hostilities that were started by Hamas were the price to disrupt the status quo and open a new chapter in their fight against Israel, the report said. The group sought to "change the entire equation and not just have a clash," Khalil al-Hayya, one of Hamas’ leaders, told the paper.

"We succeeded in putting the Palestinian issue back on the table, and now no one in the region is experiencing calm," he said.

Taher El-Nounou, a Hamas media adviser said he hoped that "the Arab world will stand with us."

The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking hostages. Hamas regards the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Israel has declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and has started delivering strikes on that area and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank. Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari on October 27 said the ground operation in the Gaza Strip was expanding.