According to Newsweek, a senior Hamas official called for an ‘immediate’ end to the group’s war against Israel after news of President Trump’s election victory.

The call reportedly came under 24 hours after Trump secured the election.

“The election of Trump as the 47th president of the USA is a private matter for the Americans,” Hamas Political Bureau member and spokesperson Basem Naim told Newsweek.

“But Palestinians look forward to an immediate cessation of the aggression against our people, especially in Gaza, and look for assistance in achieving their legitimate rights of freedom, independence, and the establishment of their independent self-sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Naim added.

Naim told the outlet the “blind support” for Israel and its government must stop “immediately.”

Newsweek reports:

When previously in office, Trump forged a close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is today engaged in a multifront war against the Iran-aligned Axis of Resistance that began with a large-scale Hamas-led attack against Israel in October 2023. However, Trump has also expressed criticism of Netanyahu’s wartime leadership and has called for a timely end to the conflict.

Reached for comment, an Israeli official told Newsweek that “maintaining and building upon the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel has been a bipartisan feature of American politics since the founding of the Jewish state.”

“We have no doubt that this will continue to be the case,” the Israeli official said. “Going forward, we look forward to a strong working relationship with his administration to bring about a more peaceful, secure and prosperous Middle East.”

With continued signs of disagreement between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu over the course of the war despite sizable U.S. military aid, the Israeli premier was the first to congratulate Trump on what was described as “history’s greatest comeback.”

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas official, told Reuters that “we urge Trump to learn from Biden’s mistakes.”

“Abu Zuhri said Trump would be tested on his statements that he can stop the war within hours of taking office as U.S. president,” Reuters stated.

Per Reuters:

Palestinians, locked in war with Israel for more than a year, expressed fear at Donald Trump’s return to the White House, while the leaders of the militant group Hamas and the Palestinian Authority urged him to act for peace.

In Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Abu Osama, who has been displaced by unrelenting Israeli bombardments, called Trump’s election victory a “new catastrophe in the history of the Palestinian people”.

“Despite the destruction, death, and displacement that we have witnessed, what is coming will be more difficult, it will be politically devastating,” Abu Osama told Reuters.

More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, health authorities in the enclave say, and much of the territory has been laid to waste.

The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Efforts by the United States and Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to arrange a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that would end the fighting and see the release of Israeli and foreign hostages in Gaza as well as Palestinians jailed by Israel.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport.

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