Muhammad Ismail Darwish, head of Hamas’s Political (Shura) Council, claimed that “In just one day or within 48 hours, half a million Palestinians returned to their homeland,” and that “even with nothing, they sat on the ground and, like olive trees, they remained steadfast in their land.”
The comments, published in an interview on the website of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, came after Hamas leaders including Darwish visited Tehran over the weekend.
The meeting, one of the most high-profile for the ayatollah in recent times, comes in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s audacious plan for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future.
“This was the greatest response to Trump and his projects,” Darwish commented, responding to the president’s grand vision for Gaza, which after 16 months of war, lies in ruins.
The council’s leader repeated Hamas and Iranian claims of victory during the war against Israel, stating that “The enemy did not achieve any of its goals in this battle. It was not able to destroy Hamas, nor was it able to return its captives, or maintain a presence in Gaza.
“Accepting defeat, it retreated, and the displaced [Palestinian] people returned to their homeland, leaving Gaza and Palestine proud and dignified.”
Darwish, like many of the terror group’s leaders, lives in Doha, Qatar.
Hamas has come under further fire on the international stage for its distinctive method of stage-managing the release of Israeli hostages, including forcing them to wave to crowds and presenting the hostages with “certificates of captivity.”
Three Israeli hostages released on Saturday in the latest round of exchanges – Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami, and Eli Sharabi – appeared exhausted and dangerously underweight, with protruding bones, sunken faces, and clear signs of severe malnutrition.
Hostage exchange
The crowds that have gathered to watch the handover of hostages to the International Committee of the Red Cross have at times seemed overwhelming and threatening to swarm the Israeli captives.
Since the implementation of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the middle of January, hundreds of thousands of Gazans have returned to the northern part of the enclave after they evacuated south during Israel’s military campaign.
Despite claims that over 50,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, Darwish was insistent that “the morale of the Palestinian people in Gaza is excellent, and there’s a strong sense among the people that they have achieved a great victory against the [Zionist] enemy, and also against the entire Western system and apparatus that supported the aggression against us. From the very first day, on October 7, we achieved victory and stood firm for 15 months.”
At a time when ordinary Iranians are suffering economic hardship, comments from Darwish – that “during our meeting, [Khamenei] emphasized his extensive support for the Palestinian people and their just cause, as well as support for the Resistance in Palestine and the region” – may not find a warm welcome in Iran.
The ayatollah has long seemed more concerned with supporting his proxies in Hamas, Hezbollah and the Yemen-based Houthis than concern for the Iranian people.
Darwish also addressed the ongoing issue of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, something that has become even more pressing since Trump returned to power. Whispers of a normalization deal were heard in the air before October 7, but the start of the war pushed any talk of it back into the shadows.
Since Trump’s return, the issue has again come to the fore. However, the kingdom is adamant it will not establish ties with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, and a solution to the population question in Gaza.
Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood has become a thorn in the side of normalization,” Darwish stated proudly. “The normalization train came to a halt on October 7 and it remains halted to this day.
“The Ummah [collective community of Muslim people] will succeed in resisting the normalization train, just as it did before,” he said. “The resurgence of resistance in the West Bank and the steadfastness of the people of Gaza are the greatest factors halting the normalization of relations. By God’s will, Trump will not succeed in implementing any of his plans or projects.”