LONDON: A senior Hamas figure has thanked US President Donald Trump for helping bring about a ceasefire in Gaza.
Dr. Basem Naim expressed his gratitude in an interview with Sky News, but said former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair would not be welcome in any role rebuilding or governing the Palestinian enclave.
“Without the personal interference of President Trump in this case, I don’t think that it would have happened to have reached the end of the war,” Naim said.
“Therefore, yes, we thank President Trump and his personal efforts to interfere and to pressure Israel to bring an end to this massacre and slaughtering.”
Naim said Trump would need to continue to apply pressure on Israel to ensure it keeps to its side of the deal, adding: “Without this pressure, without this personal interference from President Trump, this will not happen.
“We have already seen Netanyahu speaking to the media, threatening to go to war again if this doesn’t happen, if that doesn’t happen.”
There have been suggestions that the future governance of Gaza could feature Blair, who has been earmarked for a role on an international supervisory body that would administer the enclave during its reconstruction.
“When it comes to Tony Blair, unfortunately, we Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims and maybe others around the world have bad memories of him,” Naim said.
“We can still remember his role in killing, causing thousands or millions of deaths to innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq. We can still remember him very well after destroying Iraq and Afghanistan.”
