Hamas condemns, refutes Netanyahu’s speech to US Congress

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Thursday strongly criticized allowing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a speech at the US Congress, accusing him of "distorting facts" over his war conduct in Gaza.

In a statement, Hamas slammed what it said "giving him an opportunity to polish his face before the world and cover up the mass killings and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip," stressing that he is supposed to be handed to the International Criminal Court over his war crimes in Gaza.

Hamas said Netanyahu used a "degrading propaganda and lies" that he used "as an excuse to commit the most horrific crimes against women, children, and the elderly in the Gaza Strip."

Contrary to what Netanyahu claimed on his efforts to return Israeli captives in Gaza, Hamas accused him of thwarting "all efforts aimed at ending the war and concluding a deal to release the prisoners, despite the continuous efforts of mediators."

While Netanyahu claimed that there was no famine or lack of food in Gaza and that Hamas steals aid in Gaza, the group noted that international reports confirmed that the Israeli army "used starvation tactics, blocked aid, burned and destroyed the Rafah border crossing, and killed many humanitarian workers."

Hamas also said Netanyahu's vision about the future of the Gaza Strip after the end of the war is "mere illusions and fantasies he tries to promote," and that Palestinian people "alone have the right to determine their fate and decide who governs them."

The Palestinian group urged the international community, including the UN, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation "to take a clear stance rejecting the occupation, work towards ending it by all means, and support the steadfastness of our Palestinian people and their resistance" to achieve their right to return and self-determination in accordance with international law.

Almost half of House and Senate Democrats boycotted Netanyahu's speech as thousands of people took to the streets of Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to protest his address to the US Congress.

Waving Palestinian flags, protesters chanted “Free Palestine” and “Cease-fire now.” They also held signs saying “Arrest Netanyahu”, “Stand with Palestine! End the Occupation Now!” and “Genocide is Our Red Line.”

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive against Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

More than 39,100 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 90,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.