Amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict, a disturbing message from Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Zahar has surfaced in which he speaks of his group’s ambitions for global domination. More than a minute of video footage of the senior Hamas official has gone viral, in which he claims that Israel is only the first target and that they aim to extend their influence across the world. The video of the warning resurfaced online as Israel declared war on Hamas over the weekend’s shocking attack that killed hundreds of Israelis.
“Israel is only the first target. The entire planet will be under our law,” Zahar said in the video, which was translated and published by MEMRI TV in December 2022.
“The entire 510 million square kilometres of planet Earth will be under a system where there is no injustice, no oppression and no killings and crimes like those committed against the Palestinians and against the Arabs in all Arab countries, in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and other countries,” he said.
Hours after the video surfaced, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement reaffirming his commitment to continuing the fight against Hamas, saying that every member of the Palestinian group was “a dead man”.
“Hamas is Daesh (the Islamic State group) and we will crush it and destroy it as the world has destroyed Daesh,” he said in a brief televised statement.
Meanwhile, Hamas operatives holding Israeli soldiers and civilians hostage have threatened to execute a prisoner for every house in Gaza attacked by Israel without warning. There was no sign that Hamas had carried out its threat.
Israel has formed an emergency unity government, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sitting in a war cabinet with former defence minister Benny Gantz.
The move came as the Israeli military pounded Gaza to root out the Palestinian group Hamas ahead of a possible ground offensive in the Palestinian coastal strip.
Describing Hamas as worse than ISIS, Netanyahu listed some of the atrocities committed on Saturday, including burning people alive.
He added that every family in Israel was in some way connected to a victim of the attacks.
“We will all fight together for our homeland,” he added, describing the “unprecedented” support Israel has received from world leaders.
“We have gone on the offensive… Every member of Hamas is a dead man,” he declared.
Mr Netanyahu concluded by saying that all of Israel stands behind its soldiers and that Israel will win.
“We are all one; we are all enlisted; we have all enlisted (in the fight),” declared Benny Gantz.
“There is only one camp, the camp of the Nation of Israel,” he said, adding that the new partnership with Mr Netanyahu was not a political one, but one of destiny.
“All of Israel is under Order Number 8 (the order sent to reservists for an emergency wartime call-up),” Mr Gantz said, adding that such unity in government is what the Israeli people want and need.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have no electricity or water. And with hundreds of Israeli strikes raining down on their tiny enclave, they have nowhere to go. With the Strip’s only other border, with Egypt, blocked by the Egyptian authorities, people say they are trapped.