Zelenskyy: Russia is one of the countries behind Hamas
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is convinced that Russia is one of the countries behind the Islamist group Hamas.
Source: Zelenskyy, during a joint press conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in Bucharest, Ukrinform’s correspondent reports
Quote from Zelenskyy: "Who is behind Hamas? I think the answer is simple enough: the one who supports them. We can look at who supports them publicly, who supports them with weapons; it doesn’t happen in a single day, it's been going on for a long time.
I think there may be an answer here that you can find yourself. And you can see on social media who gives the corresponding signals. We believe that Russia is one of those who helped [Hamas] and is behind such steps."
Reminder: Before that, Zelenskyy called on NATO to unite to fight terrorism and noted that the tactics of Hamas in Israel are the same as the tactics Russia uses against Ukraine.
Background:
- On the morning of 7 October, missiles were launched en masse from the Gaza Strip into Israel by Hamas militants; fires surged through Israeli cities. As of the evening of 8 October, the number of people killed in the Hamas attack on Israel exceeded 700, and more than 2,100 people were injured.
- Israeli aircraft conducted further strikes on the Gaza Strip on the night of 8-9 October to "devastate the capabilities of the Hamas terror group". The soldiers bombed not only the homes of commanders but also the houses of all militants. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it had attacked 500 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets overnight.
- Israel "severely degraded the capabilities" of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in a series of air strikes on Gaza that lasted until the morning of 9 October, the IDF said.
- It was also reported that the Israeli army had regained control of all settlements on the border with Gaza.
- After that, a senior Hamas official claimed that the group is open to negotiations with Israel.
- The IDF reported striking over 200 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight on 10 October.
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