Mideast

‘It is not our fight alone. It is yours too. Help us,’ was the message from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh Tuesday in Qatar’s capital, Doha, where he lives. Haniyeh was addressing a conference of the International Union of Muslim Scholars. Later, a transcript of parts of his speech was distributed in which Haniyeh approached Muslim countries in the Middle East with an appeal for help with the war being waged by the Hamas in the Gaza Strip against Israel.
      “We see that weapons for the occupation are pouring in from the world. The time has come to support the resistance with weapons. Because this is not just the struggle of the Palestinian people,” Haniyeh said. He also spoke about the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, when Hamas militants crossed the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing about 1200 people. Another 240 were taken to Gaza as hostages. The Doha-based television station al-Jazeera said on its online news feed that Haniyeh also spoke about October 7 on Tuesday. He said the “Operation al-Aqsa Flood” came because there were efforts to marginalise the Palestinian cause. /ritzau/