Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Top Hamas terrorist: Oct. 7 ‘proved that Israel would not survive’

Since Oct. 7, “the image of Jihad [‘holy war’] has begun to shine once again,” Osama Hamdan said.

Hamas in Khan Yunis
Hamas terrorists attend a parade in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 27, 2021. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan on Monday urged supporters of the Palestinian cause to wage jihad “wherever and however” they can to bring about Israel’s destruction.

Speaking with SamaQuds, a YouTube channel that serves as a Hamas propaganda outlet, the Lebanon-based terrorist said the Oct. 7, 2023, cross‑border massacre “proved that Israel would not survive.”

Hamdan’s comments were translated into English by the U.S.-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

The Hamas-led murder spree that killed 1,200 people “showed that the Jewish state is not a normal entity or state in the region,” said Hamdan in the Arabic-language interview.

He noted that before the deadliest single-day attack on Jews since the Holocaust, “the world began to deal with Israel as a normal state in the region, and some even began to theorize that Israel was here to stay.”

Since Oct. 7, “the image of Jihad [‘holy war’] has begun to shine once again,” continued Hamdan. “Any person who believes that he should support Palestine must strive to become a mujahid, wherever and however he can, in order to bring about the end of this occupation and this Zionist enterprise.”

Under U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, which Hamas accepted last month, terrorist groups in the Strip are supposed to disarm.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Nov. 4 that Jerusalem “won’t compromise” on Hamas’s disarmament under the agreement.

“The eradication of the Hamas terror state is at the heart of President Trump’s plan,” Sa’ar said. “Gaza must be demilitarized,” the top diplomat declared, adding that the “radical terror states,” including Lebanon and Yemen, must be neutralized to ensure regional security.

“For 20 years prior, secretly, I was learning Torah, I was learning the Bible, the biblical understanding of history, and I wanted to go to a place where I can live and also play,” the NBA legend said of his time playing in Israel.
Some see the transfer of law enforcement from the IDF to the police as a step toward greater Israeli governance, while a legal expert says it would bring greater normalcy to Israeli life in Judea and Samaria but not advance sovereignty.
Israeli forces killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s Badr Unit in Southern Lebanon following the group’s attack on three soldiers within the Security Zone.
Israel’s U.N. envoy says the inquiry shows that anti-Israel hostility is “not organic” and warns of foreign efforts to sow division.