Hamas on Wednesday rejected statements from the Iranian regime's ideological army that claimed the Oct. 7 attack on the Palestinian movement in Israel was part of a response to the 2020 killing of an Iranian general in an American attack.
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At a press conference in Tehran, Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) spokesman Ramezan Sharif said that the bloody Hamas attack, dubbed the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” was “one of the operations carried out to carry out the assassination of “To avenge General (Qassem) Soleimani.” the Americans and with the support of the Zionists (Israel).”
Qassem Soleimani, then head of the Quds Force, the IRGC's elite unit and a key figure in the Islamic Republic in the Middle East, was killed in an American raid in Iraq on January 3, 2020.
The IRGC spokesman spoke two days after the death on Monday of another Quds Force commander, Razi Mousavi, in an attack attributed to Israel in Syria.
In a statement that marked a rare contradiction with Tehran, Hamas “denied the accuracy of statements made by Islamic Revolutionary Guards spokesman General Ramezan Sharif regarding the Al-Aqsa flood operation and its motivations.”
AFP
“We have already announced on several occasions the motives and reasons for the Al-Aqsa flooding operation, particularly pointing out the dangers that await the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Hamas added.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque stands on the mosque esplanade, which also houses the Dome of the Rock, in the occupied Palestinian part of the Old City of Jerusalem.
The increase in visits to the site by Jewish worshipers, who also consider it holy, is seen as a “provocation” by Palestinians and leads to frequent clashes.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right tenor, has visited the promenade twice since last December to assert Israeli sovereignty.
Iran was one of the first countries to welcome the “proud operation” of Hamas, which has openly defended Tehran for many years even though their relations have had their ups and downs.
Despite its publicly expressed support, Tehran denied on October 9 that it had played an active role in the Hamas offensive.
“Iran does not interfere in the decision-making of other nations, including Palestine,” diplomatic spokesman Nasser Kanani said at the time. He ruled that “the allegations related to Iran’s role” were “based on political motives.”