A Hamas spokesman applauded the Canadian government’s push for a cease-fire as a step “in the right direction toward isolating the fascist Israeli government globally.”
“Despite the United States position, the Hamas movement is watching the growing cause by several Western governments to end the aggression on Gaza,” Ghazi Hamad, a member of the Palestinian terror group’s politburo, said in a five-minute video statement against a backdrop of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“In addition to the other calls worldwide demanding immediate ceasefire in Gaza strip — the last of which was a statement by Canada, Australia, and New Zealand backing sustainable ceasefire in Gaza — we welcome these developments and consider them in the right direction toward isolating the fascist Israeli government globally and ending the longest ever occupation in our modern time.”
Hamad made headlines in late October when he warned Hamas would continue to perpetrate attacks similar to October 7 until Israel was destroyed. “Israel is a country that has no place on our land,” Hamas said during a broadcast with a Lebanese news channel translated by the Middle East Media Research Group (MEMRI).
“We must remove that country, because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation and must be finished. We are not ashamed to say this, with full force,” the Hamas spokesman continued. “We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again. The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, and a fourth because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight. Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.”
In early December, Canada voted at the United Nations in support of a non-binding resolution advocating for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. ”Since October 7, over 18,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza, thousands of children are now orphans. Countless Palestinian civilians in Gaza are suffering without water, food, fuel, or medicine and their homes have been reduced to rubble. We must recognize that what is unfolding before our eyes will only enhance the cycle of violence,” foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly said at the time.
The Canadian government, led by Liberal Party head Justin Trudeau, has pushed for a “sustainable cease-fire,” called on the release of all hostages, and the surrender of Hamas.
In mid-November, Trudeau spoke at a news conference where he accused Israel of killing “babies” and drew the reproach of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It is Hamas not Israel that should be held accountable for committing a double war crime – targeting civilians while hiding behind civilians,” Netanyahu wrote on X, the social-media platform. “The forces of civilization must back Israel in defeating Hamas barbarism.”