An aerial photograph of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem is hanging on the wall of Osama Hamdan's office in the southern suburbs of Beirut. This is a very symbolic image for the man in charge of Arab and Islamic affairs at the Hamas political office, who became one of the faces of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the October 7 terrorist attack carried out by members of his organization on Israeli territory. A native of the Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and exiled in Lebanon, this 58-year-old Palestinian is leading the battle on the political front, while the armed wing continues its actions from the Gaza Strip. "The Israelis say they want to get rid of Hamas and take back their prisoners by force. The reality is that they had to negotiate. In a few days, maybe a few weeks, they'll come to the same conclusion. The resistance will continue," he predicted.

"If they accept a complete ceasefire, stop attacking Gaza and come back to the negotiating table, we can start talking again," continued this senior Hamas official. Behind its declared determination to resist without concession the Israeli army's assault on the Gaza Strip, which resumed on Friday, December 1, after a week's truce, the Palestinian military movement is seeking to negotiate a political solution. The truce reached under the aegis of Qatar and Egypt, which led to the release of 81 hostages against 240 Palestinian prisoners, was a victory on which Hamas is determined to capitalize.

After the attack on October 7, Hamas restored its reputation among the population as the spearhead of Palestinian resistance, shattering the status quo that favors Israel. "This operation took place to tell everyone that we are a nation that continues to fight for its rights," justified Hamdan, who presents it as "an act of resistance" in response to the occupation and "the Israeli desire to bury the Palestinians". The legitimacy of Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by some Western countries, has nevertheless been tarnished in the eyes of the international community, stunned by the death of over 1.200 Israelis. Since then, the political leadership of Hamas has been at pains to smooth over the story of that day, even if it means denying the atrocities that were documented by the cameras of its own fighters.

"The October 7 operation was directed against soldiers. We never planned to attack civilians. We never did. The plan was not to take civilians hostage," claimed Ghazi Hamad in a telephone interview, a senior member of the political bureau based in Doha, Qatar. "But perhaps the whole operation was not under control on the ground," admitted the political leader, who on October 24, on the Lebanese television channel LBCI, threatened a "new October 7" until Israel was annihilated and the occupation of Palestine ended.

You have 60% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.