A top Hamas official has claimed that the terror group is “not far away” from launching a “war of liberation” that he believes will be bigger than the October 7 invasion of Israel.
Osama Hamdan, a member of Hamas's political bureau, made the stark claims in an interview with Lebanese media outlet Bel Moubashar Online.
In the interview, translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), “he promises[d] that a war of liberation is coming, and not just another October 7,” adding that he thinks such an event is not far away.
Hamdan, in his late 50s, also expressed no remorse for “shattering an entire division of the occupying army,” referring to the 1,200 Israelis, almost all of whom were civilians, killed by Hamas in the Oct. 7 raid.
The group targeted young women and children, as well as families, killing thousands and kidnapping hundreds in the chaos of the raid.
Osama Hamda (pictured) expressed no regret over the deaths of the 1,200 Israelis, almost all of whom were civilians, killed by Hamas in the October 7 raid
Hamas kidnapped 26-year-old Noa Argamani (photo) from the Nova festival
Gunmen from the terror group paraded the body of 22-year-old Shani Louk (photo), who was partying with her friends at the Nova festival hours earlier
Gunmen from the terror group paraded in the back of a 4×4 truck with the body of 22-year-old Shani Louk, who hours earlier was partying with her friends at the Nova festival near Kibbutz Re'im.
Although her family hoped she was still alive, her family confirmed her death in late October, although the circumstances of her death, as well as where and how the bone from her skull was found, are currently unclear.
Hamas kidnapped 26-year-old Noa Argamani from the Nova festival, where Shani was also taken.
Phone footage of the horrific day showed Noa being torn from her friends and begging for her life from the back of a motorcycle.
She was heard shouting: 'Don't kill me!'
It is currently unknown where she is being held or if she is even alive, as she was not one of the more than a hundred hostages released by Hamas last week in exchange for a temporary ceasefire.
Shani Louk, 22, who was paraded in a Hamas video before a bone was found from the base of her skull three weeks after she was taken hostage
Ms Louk, 22, was German but grew up in Israel and was one of hundreds of unsuspecting partygoers at the Nova festival where Hamas carried out a massacre of around 260 civilians
Her dying mother, who is currently battling stage four brain cancer, called on US President Joe Biden and the Red Cross to intervene and shared a message for her daughter: 'If I can't see you… know that I love you very much of you.'
The stark warning from Hamas's political leader comes as Israel's spy chief has vowed to hunt down and kill the terror group's leaders “wherever they are in the world,” even if it takes years.
TV station Kan broadcast secret recordings of the head of the country's security service, known as Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, 58, in a news program late on Sunday evening.
Bar, who has been Shin Bet boss for two years, likened the Oct. 7 massacre that left at least 1,200 dead and more than 200 kidnapped to Gaza as “our Munich.”
In the segments broadcast by KAN, Bar can be heard saying: 'The war cabinet has given us a goal: to eliminate Hamas, and we are determined to do that. This is our Munich.'
In 1972, Palestinian terrorists attacked the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics, killing eleven athletes. For years, the country took bloody revenge on those responsible.
A later operation codenamed Wrath of God targeted nine members of the group responsible, and they were tracked down in Rome, Paris and Beirut and murdered over a period of seven years.
Liora Argamani (right) fears she will not live long enough to see her only child, Noa, 26, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7
Noa was driven away through the desert by Hamas terrorists on a motorcycle
Noa's father, Yakov, says doctors have told the family that his wife Liora may not live long
Bar added: 'We are already learning our lessons from the events (of October 7).
“It will be done wherever it is needed, in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Turkey, Qatar. It will take a few years, but we will be there to do it.
'The responsibility for safety lies with us. It is our duty to provide both security and some degree of security.
'Unfortunately we were not able to do that on October 7. I think we're on an upward trajectory.”
In a letter to staff after the attacks, Bar said: 'The responsibility lies with me. Unfortunately, despite a series of actions we took on Saturday, we were unable to achieve sufficient deterrence to thwart the attack.
'There will come a time for investigation. Now we're fighting.'
The IDF has already taken out several key Hamas targets and this weekend eliminated the mastermind behind the October 7 Kibbutz Nahal Oz massacre.
Smoke can be seen rising from the Gaza Strip after another night of rocket attacks
Senior Hamas leaders are known to live outside Gaza and the West Bank, with key figures in Lebanon, Turkey, Qatar and Iran.
Ismail Haniyeh, 61, chairman of the movement and head of Hamas's political bureau, travels between Istanbul and Doha and is known to stay in luxury five-star hotels when he does so.
He is often accompanied by Khaled Masha, 58, when flying between Doha and Istanbul.
Salah al-Arouri, 57, deputy head of Hamas's political bureau and responsible for the movement's military activities in the West Bank, is in Beirut, Lebanon.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered spy agencies to draw up plans to assassinate the group's top leaders outside Gaza, who live in Turkey, Qatar and elsewhere.
According to the report, some called on Israel to immediately kill Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who lives in Doha, and others after the October 7 attack.
Smoke can be seen rising from the north of the Gaza Strip as fighter jets attack targets
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said this weekend that Wissam Farhat was killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip
However, such actions on Qatari or Turkish soil could have strained or torpedoed diplomatic efforts to free hostages, and the idea was shelved.
The IDF has already taken out several key Hamas targets and this weekend eliminated the mastermind behind the October 7 Kibbutz Nahal Oz massacre.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said this weekend that Wissam Farhat was killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip.
He added: “Farhat planned and sent the terrorists to Kibbutz Nahal Oz and the nearby army post on October 7, where a brutal massacre was carried out.”
Hagari said Farhat was responsible for an attack on IDF forces in Gaza City's Shejaiya neighborhood in 2014, in which seven soldiers were killed.