Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal: Our group will rise 'like a phoenix' from the ashes

(Patria) - Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said the Palestinian group will rise "like a phoenix" from the ashes despite heavy losses during a year of war with Israel, and that it continues to recruit fighters and produce weapons, Reuters reported.

A year after the Hamas attack that triggered the war, Meshaal framed the conflict with Israel as part of a broader 76-year narrative dating back to what Palestinians call the "Nakba" or "catastrophe," when many were displaced during the 1948 war that accompanied Israel's creation.

"Palestinian history is made up of cycles," Meshaal (68), a senior Hamas official under the leadership of general leader Yahya Sinwar, told Reuters.

"We go through phases where we lose martyrs (victims) and lose some of our military capabilities, but then the Palestinian spirit rises again, like a phoenix, thanks to God."

Meshaal, who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 1997 after being injected with poison and served as Hamas's general leader from 1996 to 2017, said the group is still capable of ambushing Israeli troops. "We have lost some of our ammunition and weapons, but Hamas is still recruiting young men and continues to produce a significant portion of its ammunition and weapons," Meshaal said, without providing details.

Meshaal remains influential in Hamas, having played a key role in its leadership for nearly three decades, and is now widely considered its diplomatic face. His comments appear intended as a signal that the group will fight on regardless of losses, Middle East analysts say.

Israel launched its offensive against Hamas after about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage in a Hamas attack on October 7 last year. Much of Gaza has been destroyed, and around 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive that has been ongoing since then.

Israel says Hamas no longer exists as an organized military structure and has been reduced to guerrilla tactics. At least a third of Palestinian deaths in Gaza, around 17,000 people, are Hamas fighters, according to Israeli officials. Around 350 Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in Gaza.

Meshaal said he sees no prospect of peace as long as the Netanyahu government is in power. Israel blames Hamas, whose founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel, for the failure to secure peace.

"As long as there is (Israeli) occupation, the region remains a time bomb," Meshaal said.