Hamas will not accept a puppet government in the Gaza Strip and will remain in the territory, said a leader of the Palestinian resistance group in Lebanon Monday.
Israel has said it intends to destroy Hamas. "To those who think that Hamas will disappear, Hamas will remain entrenched in the conscience of our people, and no force on Earth can annihilate or marginalise it," Osama Hamdan told a news conference. "Our people will not allow the United States to impose its plans to create an administration that suits it and that suits the occupation (Israel), and our people will not accept a new Vichy government," he said.
"We would like to remind those who seek to depose Hamas... that were are an integral part" of the Palestinian people, added Hamdan.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress that "at some point" the Palestinian Authority (PA), led by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, should take control of the Gaza Strip.
International third parties could possibly play a role in the intervening period, Blinken said.
Osama Hamdan
