Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan tells AFP that "the resistance has a high ability to continue" fighting Israel, after Gallant said Hamas "no longer exists" as a military formation in Gaza.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the AFP news agency in an interview on Sunday that the terrorist group still has ample resources to continue fighting Israel despite losses sustained during the war in Gaza.
"The resistance has a high ability to continue," Hamdan said, adding, "There were martyrs and there were sacrifices... but in return there was an accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into the resistance."
His comments came less than a week after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists that Hamas "no longer exists" as a military formation in Gaza.
Hamdan, however, told AFP on Sunday, "The number of casualties... is much less than what is expected in a battle of this size, level and breadth."
He also accused the United States of not doing enough to force concessions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that would lead to a ceasefire.
"The American administration does not exert sufficient or appropriate pressure on the Israeli side," Hamdan told AFP, adding, "Rather it is trying to justify the Israeli side's evasion of any commitment."
The United States has been pushing an outline for a ceasefire and hostage release deal that President Joe Biden first laid out in May, but Hamas has continuously rejected every proposal that has been presented to it.
Last week, Hamas once again said that its negotiators reiterated the group’s readiness to implement an "immediate" ceasefire with Israel in Gaza based on a previous US proposal without new conditions from any party.
Commenting on Sunday’s Houthi missile attack on central Israel, Hamdan said the attack showed the limits of Israel's ability to defend itself.
"It is a message to the entire region that Israel is not an immune entity. Even Israeli capabilities have limits," he claimed.
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