By Özgür Altınbaş
We conducted an interview on the latest circumstances in Gaza with Gazan journalist Mohammed Abu Taqiya. Taqiya shared information and evaluated on the US’s pressure with sanctions on the countries where HAMAS executives reside, allegations that HAMAS has received a request to leave Qatar, the arrest warrant issued for Netanyahu at the International Criminal Court and Israel’s third offensive in the north of Gaza aiming at “unpeopling” the area.
We asked Taqiya about the US’s Treasury Department’s decision to put senior officials, including the ones residing abroad, on its sanction list. Taqiya emphasized the legal aspect of HAMAS executives residing abroad. He answered the question that especially concerns Türkiye and Qatar as follows:
HAMAS executives abroad and international agreements
“The US is again showing its partnership with the occupier Israel in this massacre. The US threatens the countries that can support the resistance and provide their residency with sanctions with their ‘terrorism’ discourse. If there is terrorism in the world, it is Israeli and US terrorism. This is what many Western countries represent. They legitimize every means to pursue their illegitimate interests.
HAMAS resides in several countries, mainly Qatar and Türkiye. They reside according to the international agreement. In 2011, there was a prisoner exchange with Israel. The released resistance members were sent to different countries, not to Palestine. The names recently announced by the US are those released in 2011. This is not a new situation. We have seen before that the US Treasury Department is trying to put pressure on Türkiye through these names by telling lies.”
“The headquarter is in Palestine”
We asked Takiqa about the claim that Qatar requested from HAMAS to leave the country. “As far as the statements made by Qatar and HAMAS are concerned, no such request was conveyed to HAMAS neither verbally nor in writing” Taqiya said. He continued:
“HAMAS is a Palestinian-based resistance movement. The reason why some HAMAS members are abroad is because Palestinians are refugees abroad. 7.5 million Palestinians live abroad as refugees. In other words, having members abroad is a very normal situation for HAMAS, as it is for other resistance organizations. HAMAS has no headquarters in Türkiye, Yemen, Qatar or any other country. HAMAS is present in those countries in order to maintain some relations and communication. Some Hamas officials also visit these countries for meetings.”
“It is not a question of issuing the resolution, but of implementing it”
We took also Taqiya’s view on the arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu at the International Criminal Court. He said it is a “historic and important, albeit belated, decision”:
“This as a step to protect the rights of the oppressed. But more important than the issuance of this decision is whether there are forces to implement it. You know that there are positive decisions taken by many organizations, including the UN, to protect the rights of the Palestinian people, but Israel, the US and the Western world prevent their implementations. We need a stronger international will for that, a will of not only Muslim or Arab countries. When we have that will, the occupiers will receive the treatment they deserve.”
“The silence of Muslims and Arabs”
Lastly, we asked Mohammed Abu Taqiya to give us a detailed description of the current situation in Gaza. Taqiya stated:
“We are talking about 14 months of genocide. 80 percent of Gaza has been destroyed. 160.000 of our people have been martyred, injured or disappeared. This is a terrible number. This is a terrible indicator of genocide.
Attacks on Rafah are continuing. The lie of Israel and the West is that the operation here will be ‘humanitarian’ and ‘surgical’. But after 7 months of ground assault on Rafah, 90 percent of the area has been destroyed. The occupiers are not only using firearms, but also people’s lack of access to food and water as a weapon. Hunger is a weapon for Israel, like an atomic bomb.
So far 34 hospitals have been destroyed. Israel has committed all war crimes. For 14 months, Israel has been trying to implement its plan to expel the Palestinians, but it has failed. The reason for this is the determination and resolve of the Palestinians. But Israel is trying to implement all its plans with genocide. What allows this is the silence of Muslims and Arabs.”
So-called “safe zone”
“The occupying Israel divides Gaza into two parts, north and south. They have tried to portray the south of Gaza as a ‘safe zone’. At the beginning of this year, the south of Gaza, the so-called ’safe zone’, represented 65 percent of Gaza, but today not even 10 percent. South of Gaza are the refugee camps of Mousayrat, Magazi, Brej and Deyr-el Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah. There too, Israel has bombed hospitals, shelters and tent cities and killed thousands of people.
The north consists of Gaza City, Jabaliya refugee camp, Jabaliya Belet, Beit Lahya and Beit Hanoun town. The northernmost part of this area, Jabaliya refugee camp, Beit Lahya and Beit Hanoun, has been subjected to the third devastating Israeli ground offensive for nearly 60 days. Here, the Israeli generals have an undisclosed plan. It is a plan of “unpeopling” completely. All aid to the area was cut off and two weeks later the attack was launched. In the last days, there are no ambulances or rescue teams working there. All the teams have been attacked and people have been taken prisoner or martyred.
The first ground offensive lasted for 10 months and failed. Then the second lasted for a month and failed again. Now the third ground offensive has been going on for two months. There are about 60 thousand Palestinians in that area. Before the attack, there were 160 thousand Palestinians. Although it is not certain, it is said that 3 thousand Palestinians were taken prisoner. 2 thousand Palestinians were martyred there. The people there went towards the border of the region, they did not go south. They stay in tents, schools and open areas. According to Israel, 35 officers and soldiers were killed in the attacks in the north. Among them are the highest-ranking officers killed since October 7. The resistance continues there. For the third time, the resistance will make Israel’s plan fail.”