In his interview with Al Jazeera, Bassem Naim has also expressed Hamas’ condemnation of the Israeli offensive in the northern part of the West Bank and “unfortunately the silence of the international community towards what’s happening there”, referring to “the continuous killing and the destruction against our refugees in the different refugee camps in the north”.

Asked about what role Hamas wants to play in terms of running Gaza in the future, Naim replied that the group even before the October 7, 2023 attack has stated many times to it was “ready to give up” governing the territory.

“We are ready to hand over the government in the Gaza Strip to any Palestinian body representing all Palestinians, a unity government, a technocratic government, a special body formed only to run the Gaza Strip in cooperation or in coordination or as a reference with the government in Ramallah — we are ready to do it,” he said.

“Unfortunately, all these proposals are rejected from the PA leadership in Ramallah. And we have said they can come and they can have all the facilitation to run everything inside the Gaza Strip.”