“He (Ismáíl Hanija) said that Kushner sent a message through an intermediary that he wants to come and conclude the deal of the century on the creation of a (Palestinian) state in Gaza. Billions would then flow into Gaza and the resistance fighters would have to lay down their weapons and so on…,” said Abd Al-Salám Haníja to the SamaQuds video channel in an interview that was highlighted by the MEMRI website, which monitors Middle Eastern media.
The son of the slain Hamas leader called the rejection of this agreement proof that his father was not only thinking of himself. “He famously answered him: ‘May our hands become paralyzed if we sign an agreement that would separate Gaza from Palestine’,” Abd Al-Salám Hanija added to his father’s decision to leave the residents of the Gaza Strip in their current situation.
Abd Al-Salam Haniyeh, Son of Former Hamas Leader: People Who Came to Gaza in Recent Years Couldn’t Believe How Beautiful It Was, with Its Buildings, Promenades, Restaurants – More than Many Arab Countries; My Father Rejected a State and Investment of Billions in Gaza as Part of… pic.twitter.com/cW8TKadsVE
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) September 20, 2024
“The Gaza Strip was beautiful”
But at the same time, he questioned the often-mentioned claim that the Gaza Strip was an open-air prison in which people only lived. According to him, even before the current war with Israel, thanks to foreign aid, this territory looked better than many Arab countries. Hanija junior described how after the war with Israel in 2008 and 2009, the Gaza Strip received worldwide attention and a large amount of money flowed there, especially from Arab countries. He identified the visit of the Qatari emir in 2012 as a turning point for the reconstruction of Gaza at the time.
“People who came in 2020 to 2021 couldn’t believe it was Gaza – because it was so beautiful. Those buildings, the Egyptian Promenade, the Doha Promenade, restaurants and all that… The beauty that was here could not be found in many Arab countries,” Haníja the younger described.
Hamas leader Ismáíl Hanija was killed in the Iranian metropolis of Tehran on July 31 this year. Iran blamed Israel for the assassination, which did not officially claim responsibility.
The Israeli army is still continuing its military operation in the Gaza Strip after around 1,200 people were killed in an attack by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups last October. According to Hamas authorities, the Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip has claimed over 40,000 lives. There are also about a hundred Israeli hostages in Gaza who were dragged away by Palestinian terrorists – but it is not clear how many of them are still alive.
