Senior Hamas official Khaled Meshaal told Sky News on Thursday that Gaza had been “destroyed” as a result of the war Hamas began on October 7, but that the destruction was “part of the “march of our people toward liberation.”
The Times of Israel reported:
In an interview with Sky News Arabic today, Mashaal acknowledges the damage wrought to the territory in the aftermath of the October 7 attack. “Gaza is now destroyed,” he says. “Every fair-minded person sees that this is absolutely true.”
However, he says, this is all part of the “march of our people toward liberation.”
Meshaal was once the leader of Hamas’s political bureau, and is reported to have built a net worth of some $4 billion in comfortable exile in Doha, Qatar.
Asked about Meshaal’s comments, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said: “The IDF has released evidence today, that — far from the usual narrative that is put out so widely about the majority of properties in Gaza being destroyed — the IDF statistics show that only 17% of structures have been destroyed in Gaza, not the much higher figures which have been quoted by other organizations.”
As for Meshaal’s “willingness to sacrifice his own people for their so-called ‘march toward liberation’,” Mencer said that it was “important for people that wish to see a better future … that we engage in activity that brings people together towards a better future … the only ‘liberation’ which there is, is liberating Gaza from Hamas.”