- Mahmoud al-Zahar has called for world domination by his forces, saying that Israel is only the first.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement reaffirming his commitment to continuing the fight against Hamas, saying that every member of the Palestinian group was “a dead man”.
- Meanwhile, Hamas operatives holding Israeli soldiers and civilians hostage have threatened to execute a captive for each home in Gaza hit without warning by Israel.
- Israel has formed an emergency unity government, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sitting in a war cabinet with former defence minister Benny Gantz.
Amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, a disturbing message from Hamas Commander Mahmoud al-Zahar has surfaced, where he speaks of his group’s ambitions for global supremacy. More than one minute of video footage featuring the senior Hamas official has gone viral on the internet, in which he asserts that Israel is merely the initial target and that they aim to extend their influence over the entire world. The video of this warning resurfaced on the internet at a time when Israel declared war against Hamas over the shocking weekend attack in which hundreds of Israelis were killed.
“Israel is only the first target. The entire planet will be under our law,” Zahar said in the video that was translated and published by MEMRI TV in December 2022.
“The entire 510 million square kilometers of Planet Earth will come under a system where there is no injustice, no oppression, and no killings and crimes like those being committed against the Palestinians and against the Arabs in all the Arab countries, in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and other countries,” he said.
Hours after the video surfaced, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement reaffirming his commitment to continuing the fight against Hamas, saying that every member of the Palestinian group was “a dead man”.
Meanwhile, Hamas operatives holding Israeli soldiers and civilians hostage have threatened to execute a captive for each home in Gaza hit without warning by Israel. There was no indication Hamas had carried out its threat.
Israel has formed an emergency unity government, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sitting in a war cabinet with former defence minister Benny Gantz. The move came as the Israeli military pounds Gaza to root out the Palestinian group Hamas ahead of a possible ground offensive in the Palestinian coastal strip.
Calling Hamas worse than ISIS, Mr Netanyahu listed some of the atrocities committed on Saturday, including the burning of people alive. He added that every family in Israel is in some way connected to a victim of the attacks. Mr Netanyahu concluded by saying that all of Israel stands behind its soldiers and that Israel will win.
Most of the 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip have no electricity and no water. And, with hundreds of Israeli strikes raining down on their tiny enclave, they have nowhere to run. With the strip’s only other border, Egypt, blocked by Egyptian authorities, the people said they were trapped.
(With inputs from agencies)
