Mohammed Nazzal, a senior official with the Hamas terrorist organization, defended his group’s mass execution of Palestinian civilians on Friday after President Donald Trump warned Hamas could face utter destruction for the murders.
Nazzal, a member of the Hamas Politburo, defended public executions as “exceptional measures” for dealing with “criminals.” He denied accusations that Hamas was simply rounding up and killing its adversaries to keep power in Gaza, even though the ceasefire deal stipulated that Hamas would play no role in postwar administration.
“This is a transitional phase. Civilly, there will be a technocratic administration as I said. On the ground, Hamas will be present,” he said.
Nazzal also cast doubt on whether Hamas would disarm or not, as required by the Gaza ceasefire deal.
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“I can’t answer with a yes or no. Frankly, it depends on the nature of the project. The disarmament project you’re talking about, what does it mean? To whom will the weapons be handed over?” he said.
The Hamas leader insisted the group wanted to rebuild Gaza, rather than just using a truce to re-arm and replenish its numbers.
“The goal isn’t to prepare for a future war,” he said.
President Trump made it clear that any deviation from the ceasefire agreement would mean disaster for Hamas.
“If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump said in a terse post on Truth Social on Thursday.
Trump repeated his threat in comments to the media on Monday.
“We have peace in the Middle East for the first time ever,” the president said. “We made a deal with Hamas that… they’re gonna behave, they’re going to be nice, and if they’re not – we’re going to eradicate them if we have to. They’ll be eradicated, and they know that.”
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Eyewitnesses in Gaza say Hamas is perpetrating wholesale slaughter against its political adversaries, not just arresting and executing a few “criminals.”
“After the fire stopped, Hamas fighters came out of the tunnels and massacred families that opposed them. They are sending a signal that they are back – by terrorizing people,” Gaza lawyer and former Hamas political prisoner Moumen al-Natour said on Friday.
Al-Natour named several groups still resisting Hamas after a week of kidnappings and executions, including the Abu Shabab militia and the Dughmash clan.
“These militias come from the population. They need recognition and coordination to form a political umbrella – a transitional body that governs these areas and organizes their security,” he said.
Ynet News columnist Amihai Attali countered that plenty of civilians, including children, can be seen watching and cheering the Hamas executions captured on video.
“While every rational person among us raises children slowly and carefully, shielding them from the evil in the world, Gazans bring their children to the town square to watch, to smell, and to hear death – to enjoy the sight of a bullet fired into another person’s skull, often someone from a rival clan,” he noted.
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