A representative of Hamas announced that this organization received “direct support” from Iran before organizing a large-scale attack on Israeli territory.
In an October 8 interview with the BBC, Ghazi Hamad, spokesperson for Hamas, said that Iran had “directly supported” this Palestinian armed organization to launch an unprecedented attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel one day Before.
A few hours after Hamas launched the campaign, Rahim Safavi, advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, congratulated Hamas. He emphasized that Tehran will continue to support Palestinian militants “until Palestine and Jerusalem are liberated.”
However, the Iranian government has not confirmed direct support for Hamas to carry out the attack. A senior White House official said that Hamas “certainly receives financial support, equipment and weapons from Iran and other countries,” but it is still too early to confirm that Tehran is “directly involved” in the attack on Israel.
After Israel declared a state of war and launched a retaliation campaign, Hamas called on all Palestinians to take up arms and fight and asked Muslim organizations and Arab countries in the region for support.
The Lebanese armed organization Hezbollah responded to the call by firing mortar shells at three bases in the Shebaa region controlled by the Israeli army on October 8. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed organization in Lebanon, announced the raid to show solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Hezbollah announced that it had direct contact with the leaders of Palestinian resistance groups, assessing the October 7 battle as a “decisive response” against Israel and sending a warning message to Arab countries seeking peace relations with Tel Aviv.
The Israeli army shelled southern Lebanon in response to the mortar attack. Israel also used drones to neutralize a Hezbollah stronghold in the Shebaa region.
Israel has controlled the Shebaa region, about 39 square kilometers wide, since 1967 after conflicts with Arab countries. Both Syria and Lebanon claim the Shebaa area belongs to Lebanon.
The moves of Hezbollah and Iran increase concerns that the Israel-Hamas conflict will spread into a regional crisis. The leader of Hamas declared that October 7 was only “the first day of the big battle ” of the armed movement against Israel.
They say the war aims to end Israel’s “occupation” of Palestinian land and its policy of violent repression against Palestinians, as well as at sites sacred to Muslims in Jerusalem.
While Russia and Arab countries called for a ceasefire, many countries condemned Hamas’s “terrorist attack” and affirmed that Israel had the right to react in self-defense.
Israeli officials recorded more than 300 civilians and security personnel killed, more than 1,000 injured and hundreds of people kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, most of whom were civilians and high-ranking military officers.
Israeli soldiers patrolled on October 8 outside the destroyed police station in the city of Sderot, southern country, after a battle with Hamas gunmen. Photo: Reuters
On October 8, Hamas announced that the group’s assault units were still standing in many Israeli residential areas and fighting with the enemy, including the towns of Ofakim, Sderot, Yad Mordechai, Kfar Azza, Be’ eri, Yatid and Kissufim border the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli government has imposed a special security situation nationwide and is planning to evacuate civilians living near the border with the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army announced that it had destroyed hundreds of infiltrating gunmen and captured dozens of prisoners, affirming that it would continue the campaign until it achieved the goal of “destroying” Hamas.
