News / Palestine

Hamas needed for Gaza: Israeli commander

Tuesday, 12 May 2015 5:52 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 13 May 2015 8:03 AM ]

Israeli Major General Sami Turgeman

An Israeli commander says Palestinian resistance movement Hamas is needed for the security of the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Major General Sami Turgeman claimed that the alternative to the rule of Hamas in Gaza would be “the Israeli military and chaos,” Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported Monday, according to the AFP.

The comments come despite the fact that the Israeli regime has been blockading the Gaza Strip since 2007, when Hamas took control of the strip after winning legislative elections.

Israel has also launched three devastating wars against the coastal Palestinian territory, killing thousands of people.

The blockade against Gaza has cut off the Palestinian territory from the outside world, and has led to economic and humanitarian crises in the densely-populated enclave.

In bizarre remarks, Turgeman, the Israeli commander, claimed that “Israel and Hamas have common interests, of peace and quiet for growth and prosperity, even in the present situation.”

In this file photo, an elderly Palestinian walks past a building that was damaged during the 2014 Israeli onslaught on the al-Shujaya neighborhood of Gaza City. (© AP)

A history of war and aggression

The Israeli wars against Gaza have taken a huge toll on the Palestinians in the enclave.

The first Israeli war against the blockaded territory was launched on December 27, 2008 and lasted until January 18, 2009. Israel targeted much of the civilian infrastructure in the 22-day war on the densely-populated Palestinian enclave. An estimated 1,166 to 1,417 Palestinians died in the Israeli aggression.

A Palestinian child walks on the rubble of a building - destroyed in Israeli military attacks - close to the Rafah refugee camp, in southern Gaza Strip, August 4, 2014.

The Israeli regime also launched an eight-day war on the blockaded strip in November 2012. Over 160 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and about 1,200 others were injured in that Israeli war. The violence ended after the Israeli regime and Hamas agreed on an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.

In this file photo, Palestinian children walk between the rubble of buildings destroyed during the 2014 Israeli war, in the al-Shujaya neighborhood of Gaza City. (© AP)

Israel started its latest war on the Gaza Strip in early July last year. The offensive ended on August 26, 2014 with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in Israel’s 50-day onslaught. Over 11,100 others - including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people - were also injured.

Hamas responded with full force to all Israeli assaults against the Gaza Strip, inflicting heavy losses on the regime’s military.

Many analysts believe that the regime failed to achieve any victory in its wars on Gaza, which took a heavy economic toll on the Tel Aviv regime.

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