Hamas leaders surprised by US ‘going into battle’

Hamas has admitted surprise that its brutal attack on Israel this month prompted a muscular US response, with Washington deploying carrier strike groups, air-defence systems and thousands of troops to the region.

Ali Barakeh, a senior member of Hamas’s political leadership in exile, told the Financial Times that the group “didn’t expect this much of a response from America”.

“An Israeli response? Yes, we expected that,” Mr Barakeh said from his office in Beirut. “But what we’re seeing now is the entrance of the US into the battle, and this we didn’t count on.”

Mr Barakeh’s comments come as fears mount that the war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the most deadly attack on the country in its history, will escalate into a broader regional conflict that draws in Iranian-backed armed groups. The US military struck two facilities on Friday in eastern Syria that it identified as linked to Iran-backed militias.

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Tehran arms proxy forces throughout the region, including Hizbullah in Lebanon, which has exchanged near-daily fire with Israel across their shared border since the Hamas attack, as well as militias in Iraq and Syria.

Iran also supports Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and EU. Tehran has praised the October 7th attack as a “Palestinian victory”.

More than 1,400 people were killed in the multipronged attack, including women, children and the elderly, as Hamas fighters broke through security barriers around Gaza to attack Israeli towns and military posts.

Mr Barakeh expressed no remorse for the group’s massacre of unarmed Israeli civilians, saying Hamas considered it a “defensive operation” in response to Israel’s “crimes of occupation”.

He acknowledged Hamas’s assault “would not have been successful without the help of our allies Iran and Hizbullah” but said no one beyond Hamas’s military wing knew about the attack, not even the most senior political leaders.

Iranian-backed groups – dubbed by Tehran as the axis of resistance – set up a collective operations room in Beirut only after the assault, he said. “They are supporting us. They are with us until the end.”

[ Iran knows it could lose a lot if war spreads ]

Since Hamas’s attack, Israel has bombarded and laid siege to Gaza and vowed to crush the Islamist group, which has controlled the strip since 2007. More than 7,000 people, including 3,000 children, have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials.

Mr Barakeh said most Hamas fighters were in a vast tunnel network built under Gaza, where they have enough supplies to last several months. “We have been prepared for a ground offensive,” he said, adding that Hamas had at least 40,000 fighters.

Hamas is also holding more than 200 hostages seized during the attack, including civilians and US, Thai and European citizens.

“Originally, the goal was only to grab 10-20 hostages,” Mr Barakeh said, noting the captives were depleting the group’s supplies in Gaza. So far, Hamas has released four civilians unilaterally.

Qatar, a US ally that hosts Hamas’s political office, has been seeking to broker a deal to secure the release of all civilian hostages. But Hamas wants Israel to pause bombing and allow fuel and aid into the strip, according to Mr Barakeh and another person briefed on the talks.

Mr Barakeh said Hamas would release foreign hostages in exchange for a five-day ceasefire; he said there would be additional conditions to free Israeli civilians.

“Anyone candidly and genuinely concerned with civilian lives should demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Period,” said a senior Israeli official.

Hamas would not release any Israeli soldiers, Mr Barakeh said. “Those we’re keeping for a [prisoner] exchange.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023