Hamas Attack on Israel Came As Surprise for Palestine Govt Too, Say Sources | Exclusive – News18

Not just for Israel, the Hamas attack came as surprise even for the Palestine government, according to sources in the country.

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Hamas is one of the recognised political players of Palestine. The group, which rules the Gaza Strip, carried out an unprecedented multi-front attack – by air, land and sea – in the southern parts of Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,400 people and triggering a war. The crisis has entered its second month, with an increasingly dire humanitarian situation inside the besieged Palestinian enclave and no end in sight.

“It is important to tell the world that even the atrocities by Israel are troubling everyone in Palestine. Almost one lakh people from Palestine have migrated to Europe using legal and illegal ways. They are so disturbed that they swim even for six hours to escape. Our import money is not coming to us and we are struggling to survive. Their insult to Al Aqsa is known to everyone and has humiliated every Muslim of the world,” said the Palestinian sources.

“America wants to colonise Palestine and ceasefire is totally dependent on American call,” they said.

Commenting on India’s abstinence from UN voting, the source said, “We are aware of India’s strategic relationship with Israel, but for the sake of Palestinian kids and women, India should have voted. We want India to create regional balance and use its weight. We will not allow any third country to fight for us.”

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah leader Syed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said that his powerful militia is already engaged in unprecedented fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border and threatened a further escalation. “We will not allow Hezbollah to fight for us,” said sources.

‘FLEEING ON FOOT’

Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing south on foot with only what they can carry after running out of food and water in the north, a United Nations agency said Wednesday, as Israel said its troops were battling Hamas militants deep inside Gaza City.

Over 70% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have already fled their homes, but the growing numbers making their way south point to an increasingly desperate situation in and around Gaza’s largest city, which has come under heavy Israeli bombardment.

Israel has said its war to end Hamas’ rule and crush its military capabilities will be long and difficult, and that it will maintain some form of control over the coastal enclave indefinitely. Support for the war remains strong inside Israel, where the focus has been on the plight of the more than 240 hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups.

About 15,000 people fled northern Gaza on Tuesday — triple the number that left Monday — according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. They are using Gaza’s main north-south highway during a daily four-hour window announced by Israel.

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Those fleeing include children, older people and people with disabilities, and most walked with minimal belongings, the U.N. agency said. Some say they had to cross Israeli checkpoints, where they saw people being arrested, while others held their hands in the air and raised white flags while passing Israeli tanks.

Residents reported loud explosions overnight into Wednesday across Gaza City and in its Shati refugee camp, which houses Palestinian families who fled from or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its establishment.

With Agency Inputs