Senior political leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh Wednesday sought Pakistan’s intervention in halting ongoing Israeli atrocities, saying that it is a “brave” nation.
In his address to the national dialogue on ‘The Sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Responsibility of the Muslim Ummah’ held in Islamabad, he said: “If Israel faced resistance from Pakistan, the perpetration of cruelty could cease.”
Expressing hope in Pakistan’s support, he referred to the country as “brave” and a land of mujahideen (people who fight for Islam).
Haniyeh, during the event organised by Majlis Ittehad-e-Ummah Pakistan, highlighted the opposition to Israel among those who follow the Holy Quran closely.
Fighting between Israel and Hamas, which governs the besieged coastal territory of the Gaza Strip, kicked off on October 7, when Hamas launched an all-out attack on Israel.
In response, Israel has launched a brutal ground and air assault in Gaza, killing more than 16,200 people, mostly women and children.
The head of the United Nations has warned that he expects “public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions” in Gaza, currently under relentless Israeli bombardment.
The humanitarian conditions amid the Israel-Hamas war are “fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a letter to the president of the Security Council.
“Such an outcome must be avoided at all costs,” he said in the letter.
Several global powers are trying to bring Israel back to the negotiating table, but an adamant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out holding talks with Hamas, aiming to “wipe it out”.
