Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal has said his group would rise “like a phoenix” from the ashes despite heavy losses during a year of fighting with Israel, and that it continues to recruit fighters and manufacture weapons, “Reuters* reports.

Meshaal framed the conflict with Israel as part of a broader narrative spanning 76 years, dating back to what Palestinians call the “Nakba” or “catastrophe”, when many were displaced during the 1948 war that accompanied the creation of Israel.

“Palestinian history is made of cycles,” Meshaal, 68, a senior Hamas figure under overall leader Yahya Sinwar, told Reuters in an interview.

“We go through phases where we lose martyrs and we lose part of our military capabilities, but then the Palestinian spirit rises again, like the phoenix, thanks to God.”