Hezbollah leader says 7 October assault was '100 percent Palestinian'

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that the operation launched by Hamas on 7 October was "100 percent Palestinian", speaking for the first time since the war erupted.

Nasrallah said the attack, which killed around 1,400 people in Israel, was solely conducted by Palestinians and completely secretive.

He said it was not revealed to any of the factions that make up the anti-Israeli “Axis of Resistance”.

The Hezbollah leader said the conflict was related only to the Palestinian people, and no other regional issue, perhaps a reference to talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel of establishing diplomatic ties.

Calling the Hamas-led attack an “earthquake”, Nasrallah repeated his old description of Israel as “more fragile than a spider’s web”.

Israel says around 1,000 civilians were killed by Palestinian fighters on 7 October. Nasrallah claimed Israeli forces “committed the massacres” against the civilians.

He said Israel’s objective to completely crush Hamas was impossible. “Is there anyone with a brain in his head who would have such a goal?” he asked.

Nasrallah compared the current conflict to the 2006 Israel war on Lebanon, when the Israelis sought a military solution instead of negotiations and was mired in a battle with Hezbollah that ended in stalemate.

“The end of this battle will be Gaza’s victory, and the defeat of this enemy,” he said.