Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar said Monday the Palestinian group had the resources to sustain its fight against Israel, with support from Iran-backed regional allies, nearly a year into the Gaza war, reports BSS.
Sinwar, who last month replaced slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, said in a letter to the group's Yemeni allies: "We have prepared ourselves to fight a long war of attrition".
Deadly fighting raged on in the besieged Gaza Strip, where medics and rescuers said Monday that Israeli strikes -- which the military has not commented on -- killed at least two dozen people.
The latest strikes came as Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that prospects for a halt in fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon were dimming, yet again raising fears of a wider regional conflagration.
Gallant last week said Hamas, whose October 7 attack triggered the war, "no longer exists" as a military formation in Gaza.
Sinwar, in his letter to Yemen's Huthis, threatened that Iran-aligned groups in Gaza and elsewhere in the region would "break the enemy's political will" after more than 11 months of war.
"Our combined efforts with you" and with groups in Lebanon and Iraq "will break this enemy and inflict defeat on it", Sinwar said.
After months of mediation efforts towards an elusive Gaza truce deal, the United States is working "expeditiously" on a new proposal to bridge the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas, said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Miller said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss the ceasefire drive with Egyptian officials on a visit there this week.
He said that Israel's demand to keep troops on the Gaza-Egypt border and details on the release of captives remained the main sticking points.
Blinken will "discuss ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that secures the release of all hostages, alleviates the suffering of the Palestinian people, and helps establish broader regional security," Miller said in a statement.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
