‘A time of painful birth and major transformation’: a senior Hamas leader reflects on October 7 and its aftermath
mondoweiss.net
In an exclusive interview with Mondoweiss, senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk discusses Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’s goals and accomplishments, international Palestine solidarity, and what comes next after a year of Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is a purely military operation carried out by a military group from the Al-Qassam Brigades, consisting of an estimated 1,200 elite soldiers. Their objective is to confront the Gaza Division, which has been stationed around the perimeter of the Gaza Strip, imposing a strict siege since 2007. Hamas has called for the participation of the resistance in the West Bank, abroad, and from countries in the Axis of Resistance to achieve several key goals:

  1. Establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
  2. Protecting Jerusalem and its holy sites from being Judaized [sic] or destroyed.
  3. Liberating our prisoners from […] occupation prisons.
  4. Breaking the siege on Gaza.
  5. Ensuring that our people live freely and with dignity, determining their own future through elections in which they can choose their leadership and destiny.

But the surprise that Hamas leadership did not anticipate was that the Gaza division of the [IOF] collapsed within a few hours, despite their possession of the most advanced weapons, including tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft, electronic devices, and espionage capabilities. They collapsed within hours, while we only had modest light weapons and dilapidated transport vehicles.

However, we had strong men, training, high morale, a just cause, violated rights, missing freedom, and a desire to push back the oppression. This led to chaos we did not expect, entering the settlements and going further, reaching Sderot Rahat, and a radius of 40 kilometers away from the Gaza Strip.

This chaos caused many people and factions to cross the separation line and capture both civilians and military personnel, as you have seen. Some even began carrying possessions from the settlements. In truth, all this chaos was the result of the Gaza division’s rapid collapse, something that Hamas did not expect.

As for the objectives that were achieved, they were far more than we anticipated, and here are some of them:

  1. The Palestinian cause returned to the forefront, and the entire world became aware of our cause and our rightful demands for a state, freedom, and a future.
  2. The whole world came to realize the true nature of [Zionism’s régime]—its barbarism and its goal to exterminate Palestinian people—and its aggressive ambitions. This led to resolutions from the United Nations General Assembly, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court, along with global condemnation against [the régime].