Hamas says war not confined to Gaza

“The field battle is not confined to Gaza,” Osama Hamdan, who represents the group in Lebanon, told al-Manar television network on Monday.

The enemy sees itself face to face with an extensive resistance front, he asserted.

Israel launched the war against Gaza on October 7 after a retaliatory operation by the territory’s resistance groups, during which hundreds were taken captive. Since the beginning of the war, the regime has killed more than 31,600 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents.

In response, resistance movements from Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen have been carrying out military operations against the Tel Aviv regime and its interests in the region.

Hamdan also noted that, despite its hugely deadly and destructive campaign, the enemy has fallen short of realizing all of its “objectives”.

He was referring to the declared goals of releasing the captives, bringing about forced displacement of Gaza’s population to neighboring Egypt, and “eliminating” Hamas.

“After 163 days, the resistance is still capable in the field battle,” Hamdan stated.

The resistance is still fighting across locations, where the Israeli army claims to have ended the war and eliminated the resistance, he continued, adding, “This issue has created crises for the occupying army.”

The Hamas representative, meanwhile, pointed to rising tensions across the occupied territories over Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to clinch the return of the Israeli captives.

“The tensions are deeper and greater that what comes to the eye,” he said.

“All eyes are on the next elections in the occupied territories,” he stated, adding, “Planning underway for the post-Netanyahu era.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Hamdan said Hamas faced a “real chance” of ending the invasion and achieving a “permanent ceasefire.”

The resistance movement has agreed to the Israeli military’s “partial withdrawal” from Gaza until the realization of an agreement on complete cessation of the aggression, the Hamas official added.

In the first phase, the movement would identify the ailing Palestinian prisoners for release by the regime, he said.

Hamdan pointed to talks in Doha aimed at enabling a prisoner swap.

The Israeli cabinet would determine the sphere of authority of its negotiators in upcoming meetings in the Qatari capital, Hamdan continued.

“And we determine the likelihood of conclusion or defeat of an agreement accordingly,” he added.