Ali Barakeh, a member of Hamas’s exiled leadership, told The Associated Press in an interview that only a small number of top commanders inside Gaza knew about the wide-ranging incursion launched into Israel on Oct. 7, but that allies such as Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah “will join the battle if Gaza is subjected to a war of annihilation.”
Barakeh said the attack was planned by around a half-dozen top Hamas commanders in Gaza and that even the group’s closest allies were not informed in advance about the timing. He denied reports that Iranian security officials helped plan the attack or gave the go-ahead at a meeting in Beirut, last week. “Only a handful of Hamas commanders knew about the zero hour,” Barakeh said, adding that no one from the central command or the political bureau of Hamas was in the Lebanese capital last week, contrary to the claim of a report in the Wall Street Journal posted on Oct. 8. He acknowledged that Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group have helped Hamas in the past, but said that since the 2014 Gaza war, Hamas has been producing its own rockets and training its own fighters.
Barakeh also denied speculation that the attack, which had been planned for more than a year, was aimed at derailing U.S. efforts to convince Saudi Arabia to normalize ties with Israel. Instead, he said it was driven by a range of actions taken by Israel’s far-right government over the past year, including provocative visits to the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and increased pressure on Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. He also said Hamas believed Israel had plans to kill its top leaders.
Barakeh said even Hamas was shocked by the extent of the operation, dubbed “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm,” saying that it had expected Israel to prevent or limit the attack. “We were surprised by this great collapse,” Barakeh said. “We were planning to make some gains and take prisoners to exchange them. This army was a paper tiger.”
Barakeh, who was Hamas’s representative in Lebanon for years and is now in charge of coordinating with other Palestinian factions, said his group will use the scores of Israelis it captured in the raid (estimated by Israeli officials to number about 130) to secure the release of all Arabs detained in Israeli jails, and even some Palestinians imprisoned in the United States on charges of funding Hamas. “There are Palestinians held in America. We will ask for their release,” he said, without specifying whom he was referring to.
