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Hamas Official Says At Least 2.3 Million People Alive in Gaza, Undermining Claims of ‘Genocide’
Basem Naim, right, and Jackson Hinkle discuss the state of the Israel-Hamas war. Photo: Screenshot
During an interview with anti-Israel social media personality Jackson Hinkle, a Hamas leader claimed that over 2 million people are still alive in the Gaza Strip, undercutting the notion that a so-called “genocide” has taken place in the war-torn enclave.
Citing recent comments made by US President Donald Trump that roughly 1.7 million people remain in Gaza, Hinkle asked interview guest Basem Naim, a Hamas official and former Gaza Minister of Health, whether he believed that far more people had died in the enclave than originally thought. Naim immediately dismissed the claim, clarifying that over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are still alive.
“Donald Trump has come out a few times and he says the population in Gaza is 1.7 to 1.8 million. Of course, before [Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel] the population was much more than that, 400,000 to 500,000. Do you think his statistics are accurate, and if so, where did all those people go? Because we see the Ministry of Health in Gaza, they say the [Palestinian] death toll registered officially is over 40,000 [during the Israel-Hamas war],” Hinkle asked.
“I have no idea about his intentions to mention this number. But officially, there are 2.3 million-plus Palestinians are in the Gaza Strip,” Naim said.
The senior Hamas official added that around 200,000 Palestinians have fled the Gaza Strip to other areas for safety reasons both before and after the current war. He claimed that many Palestinians left for academic or professional reasons.
The terrorist official said that he believes around 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel’s defensive military operations following the Oct. 7 attack and that around 10,000 are missing.
Furthermore, Naim denied that the ongoing war is between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group, asserting that the entirety of the Palestinian people is fighting against Israel.
“First of all, this confrontation is not between Hamas and Israel, because this has been said all the time in Western media. It is between Palestinians and Israel. Maybe this time, it is led by Hamas,” he said.
Naim stated that Hamas’s “armed resistance” is a tool the group uses to achieve its “political goals” of destroying Israel and creating a Palestinian state in its place.
He added that the Oct. 7 attacks — in which roughly 1200 people were killed in southern Israel and 250 were abducted as hostages — were a justified response to Israeli aggression. He denied that the brutal and unprovoked slaughter of Israeli civilians was “initiated from our side.”
Hinkle has an extensive history of spreading unsubstantiated and false claims about Israel. Like many anti-Israel critics, he has repeatedly asserted that the Jewish state has committed a “genocide” in Gaza as revenge for Oct. 7. However, Hinkle has gone further than other anti-Israel commentators, oftentimes lauding the Hamas terrorist group as a “resistance” organization and celebrating Iran’s April 2024 missile attacks against the Jewish state.
Hinkle has referred to the anti-Israel outrage following Oct. 7 as a personal “godsend,” which allowed his X/Twitter follower count balloon from roughly 400,000 to over 2.3 million in the span of a few months.
“DROP A LIKE if you stand with IRAN in the face of ISRAELI TERRORISM!” Hinkle posted on X/Twitter in April 2024.
Beyond his support for Hamas, Hinkle has praised the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has defended the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The post Hamas Official Says At Least 2.3 Million People Alive in Gaza, Undermining Claims of ‘Genocide’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.