(NewsNation) — A Hamas leader told NewsNation on Monday that the Israel incursion is not an attack, but instead a form of “legitimate resistance.”
Osama Hamdan, who identifies as a Hamas leader, spoke to NewsNation correspondent Rich McHugh on Monday about the Israel-Hamas conflict. Hamdan claims the war is about ending Israeli occupation.
“We have warned all this time (about those who) will not give the Palestinian people their rights, the Palestinians will not stand watching. The Palestinians will resist … And it’s clear that this (Israeli) government did not receive that in a good way. They expect they can move forward by doing whatever they want, by kicking the Palestinian people out of their homeland,” Hamdan told McHugh.
Hamdan continued: “No one can blame the Palestinians for what they have done. You have to start from the initial point. Palestinians are under the occupation. This occupation must be ended. Israel is not implementing any international resolutions.”
According to a U.N. report released last month, violence from Israeli settlers has displaced more than 1,100 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2022 with settler-related incidents at a high since 2006. The Palestinians want the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip for their future state. Those areas were captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
The Palestine Liberation Organization presides over Palestinian territories in the West Bank while Hamas rules Gaza. Hamas, which was founded in 1987, has long craved control of the Palestinian cause and narrative. But unlike the PLO, which abandoned the use of armed resistance against Israel, Hamas has never rejected violence and remained a threat to Israel in recent years.
“No one asked the Palestinians about their rights or goals. So, what is happening now? The international community shows the Israelis first that there will be no stability unless there is an end for the occupation,” Hamdan told McHugh.
Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack on Israel over the weekend. On Sunday, Israel formally declared war. The war’s death toll has risen to nearly 1,600 on both sides. U.S. officials confirmed at least 11 Americans are among the dead.
“We are trying to defend ourselves. We are trying to defend our people and our rights,” Hamdan insisted.
The U.S. government has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization since at least 1997. Prior to this weekend’s violence, government officials said the group has “conducted many anti-Israel attacks in both Israel and the Palestinian territories” that have included “large-scale bombings against Israeli civilian targets, small-arms attacks, improvised roadside explosives and rocket attacks.”
Hamdan says the U.S. “knows that Hamas is not a terrorist organization.”
“They use that as a political weapon against Hamas and against the Palestinians,” Hamdan continued.
Meanwhile, questions are emerging about Iran’s possible involvement with the attack by Hamas.
The Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah saying Iranian security officials helped plot Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on Saturday and gave the go-ahead for the assault at a meeting last Monday in Beirut. Hamas leaders told the outlet that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had coordinated with Hamas since August on attack plans.
Iran has reportedly denied involvement, and Hamdan claims Iran did not consult Hamas.
“No one asked us to do that. We have done this as Palestinians by ourselves,” Hamdan said.
Hamdan told McHugh the only end to the Israel-Hamas war he sees is by ending the occupation.
“We have to talk about the main problem. It is the occupation … I think this will solve all issues,” Hamdan said.
As violence in southern Israel rages on, Hamas has reportedly threatened to execute Israeli hostages if Israel continues to bomb the Gaza Strip without warning Palestinian civilians. The National Security Council is “publicly calling for Hamas to release every single hostage in their possession.”
NewsNation’s Zaid Jilani and The Associated Press contributed to this report.