Israel-Gaza war: Hamas says ‘October 7 attack was necessary’, admits some 'faults, chaos'

livemint.com:

Islamist group Hamas while admitting in a 16-page report that “some faults happened due to the rapid collapse of the Israeli security and its military system". The attack resulted in over 1,140 deaths, mostly civilians. Around 700 Israeli civilians and 76 foreigners were among the dead, with one Israeli still missing, according to a report published by AFP. During the attack, the gunmen seized around 250 hostages, as per the latest Israeli figures.

Around 132 captives remain in Gaza, of whom at least 27 are believed to have been killed, the officials said. Israel retaliated by declaring war to destroy Hamas and deployed tens of thousands of troops along the Gaza frontier and on the northern border with Lebanon. The counterattack killed at least 25,105 people in Gaza, mostly women, children, and adolescents.

“If there was any case of targeting civilians it happened accidently and in the course of the confrontation with the occupation forces. Many Israelis were killed by the Israeli army and police due to their confusion," the report read. "We stress that the Palestinian people can decide their future and to arrange their internal affairs.

No party in the world" had the right to decide on their behalf," it added as quoted by AFP. Notably, this was the group's first public report, published in Arabic and English, that provided background information on the attack that occurred when the militants crossed Gaza's border. The Israeli military, in its ground offensive in Gaza, has reportedly damaged at least 16 cemeteries, destroying gravestones, overturning soil, and, in some instances, exposing buried bodies.