Hamas Representative In Lebanon Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi: 'This Is Not The Final War Of Liberation; Israel Always Sets Far-Reaching Goals And Ends Up Asking For Ceasefire'

Hamas representative in Lebanon Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi said in an October 12, 2023, show on NBN TV (Lebanon) that the goal of its "strategic deception" was to make Israel "fall asleep for a while, making it believe that Gaza was not going to do anything." He said that this is the reason that Hamas did not join the August 2022 and May 2023 rounds of fighting between Gaza and Israel. Abd Al-Hadi added that Hamas and other factions had managed attacks against Israel in the West Bank from Gaza in order to move Israel's focus from Gaza to there. Later in the interview, he said that in this operation Hamas has made several steps forward in its enterprise to liberate Palestine and destroy Israel. Abd Al-Hadi stated that another goal of the operation was to land a blow to the normalization of relations between Israel and several Arab countries.

Interviewer: "How was operation [Al-Aqsa Flood] carried out, if you could share the information that is available? We see it as a very wonderful, beautiful, and sweet attack. It was as if we were watching a Hollywood movie."

Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi: "The goal of our strategic deception…was to make this [Zionist] entity fall asleep for a while, making it believe that Gaza was not going to do anything. You saw that Hamas did not join the [2022] 'Union of the Arenas' battle. It did not intervene, but it played a major role along with our brothers in the Islamic Jihad. Hamas did not join the [May 2023] 'Revenge of the Free' clashes either. Also it seemed that the Hamas movement is under pressure and busy with other things, financial matters…A lot of things were said, and at the same time, we and the other factions activated the resistance in the West Bank.

"We kept the [Gaza] front quiet, and all the action was in the West Bank. So all the attention was directed there. So the Zionist enemy moved most of its forces there…It directed most of its attention to the West Bank…This was a strategic deception, and it included many other things. Netanyahu's slogans of 'we will crush them' and so on and so forth – these are all slogans for domestic consumption. He wants to raise the Zionist army's morale. These slogans will evaporate quickly, as more and more days of battle pass. In all the battles of the past, he would set far-reaching goals at first, and then these goals would slowly diminish, and ultimately he would ask for a cease-fire.

"We have made several steps forward in our enterprise to liberate Palestine. How will this be translated into something tangible – we must not talk about it now.

Interviewer: "The liberation of Palestine means the destruction of Israel?" 

Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi: "Of course. This is our enterprise as a resistance movement but this is not the battle for the final liberation, as I have said, but we are on the way there. When we talk about strategies…this attack landed a blow to the normalization [of relations between Israel and Arab countries]. What happened before will not be the same after this operation. This was one of the operation's goals."