Hamas will not accept a puppet government in the Gaza Strip and will remain in the territory, said on Monday the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group in Lebanon.
Israel has stated that it intends to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 attack which killed at least 1,400 people according to Israeli officials.
“To those who think that Hamas will disappear, Hamas will remain entrenched in the conscience of our people, and no force on Earth can annihilate or marginalize it,” Osma Hamdan told a news conference.
Senior Hamas official stated that Israel allies the United States planned to replace its rule in Gaza, likening such a move to Nazi Germany’s puppet state in France during World War II.
“Our people will not allow the United States to impose its plans to create an administration that suits it and that suits the Israel and our people will not accept a new Vichy government,” he said.
The Israeli army has bombarded the Gaza Strip and sent in ground troops in a military operation that has killed more than 10,000 people according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
