Israeli forces will face an “unprecedented defeat” if they launch a ground incursion in Gaza, Hamas official Saleh al Arouri told al Manar television in an interview.
The Lebanon-based deputy head of Hamas’s political bureau said the group’s militants were in good condition despite the ongoing Israeli airstrikes.
In the interview with the Hezbollah-owned station, al Arouri said he had met with Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah on the day of the deadly Hamas attack in Israel, and that the two organisations were in “constant communication”.
Al Arouri’s comments follow the Israeli military announcing a ground raid into northern Gaza overnight, with troops and tanks striking several Hamas targets to “prepare the battlefield” ahead of the looming ground incursion, Associated Press reported.
Palestinian officials have announced the death toll has risen above 7,000 since 7 October, with more than 750 people killed on Wednesday alone. In the same timeframe more than 100 people have died in Israeli raids in the West Bank.
Thursday also saw Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan telling Pope Francis that the Israeli attacks on Gaza had reached “the level of massacre”, after his characterisation of Hamas militants as “mujahideen” and “liberators” earlier tanked the stock exchange Borsa Istanbul on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the conflict could spread well beyond the Middle East, and that “certain forces” were seeking to provoke further escalation and draw as many countries into the conflict as possible, Al Jazeera reported.
In a similar sentiment, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the ongoing “genocide of civilians” in Gaza was a result of the United States and “a few other countries’ constant backing for the Israeli entity”, Lebanese network Naharnet reported.
The minister said the situation had reached a worrying point with the possibility of losing control by all parties involved.
