On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” Washington Post National Security Reporter Joby Warrick stated that Hamas’ plan was to swing world opinion on Israel, and that’s playing out now because “Nobody really talks as much about October 7 anymore. The focus is on what Israel is doing in response. And that works very well from Hamas’ point of view. It changes the subject, and they’re very happy with that.” And that making the civilians of Gaza suffer “does seem to fit very well with Hamas’ plan.”
Host Anderson Cooper said, “Because of the humanitarian crisis and the images of the suffering, which is clearly taking place, especially around hospitals and in hospitals, the international pressure on Israel is mounting. From your reporting, this is exactly what Hamas wanted and planned for.”
Warrick responded, “Yeah. And I think that picture is becoming very clear for us now. Hamas wanted to see some hostages. They see value in attaining hostages for swapping with prisoners that the Israelis are holding. But that wasn’t the main point. I think that Hamas, as we’re seeing it now, really wanted to shake up the region, wanted to put the Palestinian resistance movement…in their terms, back on the agenda, to get people talking about this and thinking about this. And, as our reporting shows, they really expected the Israelis to hit back hard, maybe not quite as hard as they did, but hard enough to bring world opinion down on Israel, which is sort of a second phase of this we’re seeing [playing out] now. Nobody really talks as much about October 7 anymore. The focus is on what Israel is doing in response. And that works very well from Hamas’ point of view. It changes the subject, and they’re very happy with that.”
Cooper then said, “Let’s just pause on that for a moment, meaning, they planned this massacre, they committed the slaughter of men, women, and children, 1,200 or so, in Israel. They did not build any bomb shelters for their own people, knowing that Israel would respond. They did not attempt to do anything to protect their own citizens, Palestinians in Gaza. They wanted this response by Israel. They have publicly said on Arabic channels about embracing martyrs, wanting martyrs, and being — they did nothing to protect their people.”
Warrick responded, “Yeah. They’re very proud, and they say this — as you said — publicly. We’re all about martyrs. We want to create martyrs. It helps our cause. And you’re absolutely right about this, Hamas knew this counterstrike was going to be coming, so, obviously, they stockpiled food and water and fuel for themselves. But nobody else in Gaza got this warning. Nobody else was told, well, you ought to pick up some medicine because we’re going to be under a siege for a while, or you ought to make sure that you’ve got plenty of fuel for your generator. The people of Gaza, the two million folks who live there and have to sort of live under these conditions, were not warned at all. And they’re the ones that are paying the price for that right now, and it does seem to fit very well with Hamas’ plan.”
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