Top Hamas official Khaled Mashal called on Wednesday for a resumption of suicide bombings in the West Bank, Arabic media reported, and encouraged Palestinians and supporters of the Palestinian cause to engage in “actual resistance against the Zionist entity.”
According to Sky News Arabia, during an address at a conference in Istanbul, Turkey, Mashaal said that the Hamas terror group wanted to “return to [suicide] operations.”
The war with Israel in Gaza, as well as the frequent IDF raids against Palestinian terror entities in the West Bank, could “only be addressed by open conflict,” Mashaal was quoted as having said. “They are fighting us with open conflict, and we are confronting them with open conflict.”
“The enemy has opened the conflict on all fronts, seeking us all, whether we fight or not,” he said, appearing to refer to the assassination of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the killing of Haniyeh, who was based in Qatar and had been the head of the terror group’s politburo wing.
“I repeat my call to everyone to participate on multiple fronts in the actual resistance against the Zionist entity,” added Mashaal, who had briefly been seen as a frontrunner to replace Haniyeh before the reins were handed over to Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
Earlier in August, Hamas claimed responsibility for an explosion in Tel Aviv which it said was a suicide bombing conducted as a joint operation with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and vowed that further, similar attacks would follow.
One person was moderately injured in the August 18 attack, when the bomb detonated inside the backpack of the man carrying it, killing him instantly.
Israeli police at the scene of a bomb explosion in Tel Aviv, August 18, 2024. Police later said the incident was an attempted suicide bombing in which the bomber blew himself up. (AP Photo/Moti Milrod)
Suicide bombings in Israel have been rare since the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, when hundreds of Israelis were killed in a series of deadly bombings.
In the wake of the intifada, Israel constructed the West Bank security barrier that has been credited with helping thwart further bombing attempts.
Recently, amid the war in Gaza, Israeli security authorities have identified attempts by Hamas and other terror groups in the West Bank to return to carry out such attacks.
In March of this year, a would-be suicide bomber was killed while trying to infiltrate into Israel from the West Bank. Other attempted attacks have been foiled in recent months at earlier stages.
Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
pdcc