GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas published a 16-page report on Sunday highlighting the motives behind its Oct. 7 cross-border attack on Israel and its connection to the Palestinian cause while also countering Israeli allegations.

The report, titled "Our Narrative…Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” and aimed at refuting Israel's claims, said Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was a necessary step and a natural reaction against Israel's plans to eliminate the Palestinian cause, seize lands, Judaize the Palestinian lands, and establish complete control over Al-Aqsa Mosque and holy sites.

It underscored that Operation Al-Aqsa Flood represented a strategic move to alleviate the blockade in the Gaza Strip, break free from Israeli occupation, restore national rights, attain independence, shape the Palestinian destiny and establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

During the operation, "some faults" may have arisen in its implementation due to the swift breakdown of the Israeli security and military system, leading to chaos along the border areas with Gaza, it noted.

"As attested by many, the Hamas Movement dealt in a positive and kind manner with all civilians who have been held in Gaza, and sought from the earliest days of the aggression to release them, and that’s what happened during the week-long humanitarian truce where those civilians were released in exchange of releasing Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails," it said.

Addressing accusations of targeting Israeli civilians during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the report highlighted that avoiding the targeting of civilians, especially women, children and the elderly, was a moral and religious obligation for Hamas members.

Regarding allegations that the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, targeted civilians on Oct. 7, the report said: “What the Israeli occupation promoted of allegations that the Al-Qassam Brigades on Oct. 7 were targeting Israeli civilians are nothing but complete lies and fabrications. The source of these allegations is the Israeli official narrative, and no independent source proved any of them."

"Video clips taken on that day – Oct. 7 – along with the testimonies by Israelis themselves that were released later showed that the Al-Qassam Brigades’ fighters didn’t target civilians, and many Israelis were killed by the Israeli army and police due to their confusion," it said.

"The Palestinian fighters only targeted the occupation soldiers and those who carried weapons against our people," it said.

The report called on the US and European countries to support the judicial process for investigating all crimes committed in Palestine if they truly believe in justice, despite their opposition to Israel being prosecuted at the International Court of Justice, it added.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 cross-border incursion by Hamas, killing at least 25,105 Palestinians and injuring 62,681. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.