Terrorist leader speaks out

[Peggysoonerthanlater]

Now you have it for the horse's mouth -

Yahya Sinwar: Hamas leader in Gaza didn't expect consequences of 7 October attack to be 'this dangerous', says friend

Updated Wed, 14 February 2024 at 10:02 pm GMT

The top Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was one of the main planners of the 7 October attack on Israel but did not expect the consequences to become "this dangerous", a friend has told Sky News.
Esmat Mansour (who has been in prison with Sinwar) said last year's cross-border raid was supposed to be a strategic operation designed to lift the Israeli siege on the territory, release Sinwar's friends from prison, and make him a "leader of the Palestinian people".
But the calculations "didn't go as planned", the reaction of the Israelis was "uncontrolled, without any justification", and "now we have this result", he explained.
"He [Sinwar] didn't expect the operation to make things this complicated and to go as far as it did and become this dangerous. And [it] gave Israel all the reasons and excuses to break all the rules."
Speaking from Ramallah in the West Bank, Mansour said: "I think he was one of the main people behind this operation."
He claimed that if Sinwar knew what the consequences of the assault would be, he "would never have planned an operation this way".
Mansour, who has been in prison with Sinwar, said the Hamas leader had "wanted to make a change".
According to his ex-fellow inmate, Sinwar "tried several times to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority, to make a good relationship with Egypt, and he tried to provoke Israel to lift the siege on Gaza".
"After all these efforts, he didn't succeed. After that, he had to make a strategic change to [do] a huge operation like this. A big part of it was thought up by Sinwar."
Hamas killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in its raid on Israel last October and took around 250 others hostage.
The attack led to retaliatory Israeli strikes on Gaza that have killed at least 28,576 Palestinians, including mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The Israeli military claims it has killed or captured 8,000-9,000 Hamas fighters since 7 October.

From Sky News

if he was remotely concerned about Palestians, he would surrender himself to the IDF. I would if I were him

wallowinginmywellies If he would hand over all the hostages Israel would have no further reason to continue the war that Hamas began on 7 October.

It's an extremely grey area because we have no idea what pressure is put on civilians to support "their cause" as in house hostages, gun runners etc. Very easy to force, coerce, threaten people to help them. I work with families that have drug dealers threatening them into hiding drugs and weapons over tiny drug debts their kids have run up. Can't imagine you'd have much choice if Hamas came knocking on your door.

I agree Dulra

Rape murder decapitation with garden tools, microwaves for babies, families burning alive in safe rooms, execution of parents in front of kids, recording it with their victims phones and sending to their loved ones, phone your dad and brag about how many you killed and on and on and on - war is a dirty business

I have to say, if this is a true reflection, I'm surprised. I thought the reaction of Israel couldn't have gone better for Hamas and it was just a massive great trap Israel fell into. Much of the world is appalled by what Israel is doing in Gaza and the number of people they have killed. I thought this was exactly what Hamas wanted.

I have no idea what they wanted, perhaps the second hand statement is a way of trying to appease the people in Gaza, because I can’t see how October 7th was ever going to achieve the aims that were stated there. I don’t know how it seemed like a good idea, and why it needed to be so barbaric.
As a lay person, I have been completely taken back by the level of killing and destruction that has been done in response. As well as the suffering that’s been inflicted on people in Gaza, it is in my opinion making things worse for Israel and Jewish people in general.
It always seems to be the ordinary people that suffer, and the mad men in their little ivory castles, who come up with these terrible ideas.

The Israeli government have been ignoring the Geneva convention, which they have signed ( but prevented Palestine to do so) since this slaughter started.
It is enshrined in law not to deprive civilians of food/water/ fuel/ medical aid; to provide shelter to displaced people and so on.
The Israeli government cannot pick and choose which rules apply to them ( self defence) and ignore the rest. It is not only illegal but also amoral.

I understand completely where men are concerned, who on earth would want to take the risk, but I would have thought mothers with young children could be checked out and contained safely - at least the children would be safe from bombardment and be fed.

And while they have them, maybe they could de-program them from Hamas ideology.

This sounds like bullshit. If he is so horrified by the consequences of his planned terrorist attack, why hasn’t he released the hostages to try to put an end to it all?

I'm just illustrating how Hamas is now admitting they scored a humungous own-goal, and what their viewpoint is.

Hamas have shown time after time that they consider Palestinian civilians to be acceptable collateral damage and valuable martyrs in their stated objectives of destroying Israel and the Jewish people. The harder Israel responds to Hamas the more recruits Hamas gets. Hamas wanted just this ferocious response so that Israel would lose standing internationally, to jeopardise Israel's potential peace treaties with Arab nations, and to generate more recruits.

He knew exactly what he was getting into.

Yes, I'm sure Hind Rajab the 6 year old girl left to die in a car was a gun runner for Hamas.
Perhaps the paramedics who tried to save her were too.
The ambulance was pulverised by explosions after being given the go ahead by the IDF to rescue Hind.
Hind, a 6 year old child who was alone in a car full of her murdered family.

The IDF kill for sport, its horrific and its disgusting.

But you're right we all knew this would be the response, the Israeli government built the country on massacres, this is a continuation of their legacy

That is not true. Israel launched their response at 9:15am on October 7th.

At about 6.30 a.m. (0430 GMT) Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fired a huge barrage of rockets across southern Israel, with sirens heard as far away as Tel Aviv and Beersheba. Hamas said it had fired 5,000 rockets in a first barrage. Israel's military said 2,500 rockets were fired. Smoke billowed over residential Israeli areas and people sheltered behind buildings as sirens sounded overhead. At least one woman was reported killed by the rockets.

The barrage served as cover for an unprecedented multi-pronged infiltration of fighters, with the Israeli military saying at 7.40 a.m. (0540 GMT) that Hamas gunmen had crossed into Israel. Most fighters crossed through breaches in land security barriers separating Gaza and Israel. But at least one was filmed crossing on a powered parachute while a motorboat was filmed heading to Zikim, an Israeli coastal town and military base.

9:15am Israel launches fighter jets. At 9.45 a.m. blasts were heard in central Gaza and Gaza city and at 10.00 a.m. Israel's military spokesperson said the airforce was carrying out strikes in Gaza. Medics in Gaza said dozens of people were killed in the strikes.

Israel's military said at 10 a.m. that Hamas fighters had penetrated at least three military installations around the frontier - the Erez border crossing, the Zikim base and the Gaza division headquarters at Reim. It said fighting at Erez and Zikim continued.

October 27th was the ground invasion which was after three weeks of airstrikes, artillery fire and siege.

HTHs you.

Remind me, who were all those slaughtered and raped by Hamas? Because Hamas were proud with what they did.

@Peggysoonerthanlater

"and make him a "leader of the Palestinian people"."

++++

This is the part I find most interesting. Prior to 7th October Hamas was suffering from ever reducing support from ordinary Gazans who perceived them as corrupt (ironically Fatah was suffering the same problem in the West Bank).

Hamas believed that attacking Israel would increase its support amongst ordinary Gazans. This would in turn imply that Hamas believes ordinary Gazans view attacks on Israel as a positive thing and something to be supported.

And who has ever justified what they did? Nobody. But every day Israel's slaughter of children and adult civilians is. It's disgusting.

is he for real?! and : you what?!!!!!!!

Imo Israel would be likely to find a reason to continue, and try finish what they hope to accomplish which is much more than the return of the remaining hostages.

They're not "civilians" if they assist Hamas. Whuch was my point.

Seriously? I've seen lots of people justifying it on social media from the very day it happened. And not just justifying either, taking delight in it.

Sadly yes. That awful weekend the reports of celebrating in London included

I'm talking about here. People saying "oh but it's fine when Hamas do it!!!" when literally nobody has ever said that here.

Do you condemn the grotesque attacks on civilians in Gaza?

There have been people on mumsnet who've justified the attacks, although the posts do tend to get deleted.