GAZA STRIP: Palestinian resistance group Hamas said on Sunday its October 7 raid in southern Israel was a “necessary step” against Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

But the fighter group admitted in a 16-page report justifying the attack that “some faults happened … due to the rapid collapse of the Israeli security and military system, and the chaos caused along the border areas with Gaza”.

The group said it rejected any international and Israeli efforts to decide Gaza’s post-crisis future.

“We stress that the Palestinian people have the capacity to decide their future and to arrange their internal affairs,” the report said, adding that “no party in the world” had the right to decide on their behalf.

“If there was any case of targeting civilians it happened accidentally and in the course of the confrontation with the occupation forces,” Hamas said in the report. “Many Israelis were killed by the Israeli army and police due to their confusion.”

Resistance group says Palestinians’ fight did not start on Oct 7, but 105 years ago

The document was the group’s first public report released in English and Arabic explaining the background to the attack, when the fighters broke through Gaza’s militarised border.

‘Halt Israeli aggression’

Israel deployed tens of thousands of troops along the Gaza frontier and on the northern border with Lebanon. It declared a complete siege of Gaza, cutting off supplies of water, electricity and food, decisions denounced by the United Nations. Hamas has rejected Israeli accusations of killing civilians, saying they were intended to “demonise” it.

The group said the attack was “a necessary step and a normal response to confront all Israeli conspiracies against the Palestinian people”.

Hamas urged “the immediate halt of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the crimes and ethnic cleansing committed against the entire Gaza population”.Hamas pointed to the historical origins of the conflict, saying “the battle of the Palestinian people against occupation and colonialism did not start on Oct 7, but started 105 years ago, including 30 years of British colonialism and 75 years of Zionist occupation”.

The group said it wanted to “hold the Israeli occupation legally accountable” for the suffering it had inflicted on the Palestinian people.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2024