Abbas’ advisor: For 17 years, Hamas has only brought “destruction” to Gaza “to achieve political gains”
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "All the Palestinian prisoners, old and young, veterans and newcomers, leaders and non-leaders, are all precious to us… However, just to clarify so we don't get lost in illusions: Before Oct. 7, 2023 (i.e., Hamas' launch of terror war), there were 5,000 Palestinian prisoners… We now have 17,000 Palestinian prisoners. The total of those who will be released is 1,600 prisoners. In other words, 5,000 prisoners have now become 15,000 that will remain in the Israeli prisons... Hamas can say it has achieved its goals and won… [But] when you conduct a war of this scale, you need big and substantial goals, not to use sacred causes, such as the Palestinian cause and the cause of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, just to achieve political gains that might not even be for you, but for those who operate from behind the borders, that is, the so-called ‘axis of resistance,' which turned out to be an axis empty of content, valueless, and meaningless, which trades in the Palestinian people... Hamas, after 17 years of rule in the Gaza Strip, dragged the Gaza Strip into six destructive wars that annihilated everything and destroyed the Gaza Strip six times. Hamas must admit that it has failed in governance and politics, move aside, and make way for the PLO."
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, Jan. 18, 2025]