Senior Hamas official Khaled Mashaal has called for the resumption of suicide bombing attacks against Israeli targets, according to a report by Sky News Arabia.
In a video speech to attendees at a conference in Istanbul, the news channel quoted remarks made by the 68-year-old saying that his organization wants “to return to [suicide] operations. This is a situation that can only be addressed by open conflict. They are fighting us with open conflict, and we are confronting them with open conflict.”
Mashaal, a founder and former leader of the terrorist group, was likely referring to the indiscriminate murder campaign that usually targeted non-combatants in Israel throughout the 1990s and into the mid-2000s.
The comments come amid Hamas's claim last week of responsibility for an explosion in Tel Aviv on August 18, which injured a pedestrian and resulted in the death of an individual carrying an explosive device in a backpack.
“I repeat my call to everyone to participate on multiple fronts in the actual resistance against the Zionist entity,” he reportedly told the audience.
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