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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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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
The post Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
The post Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
The post Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.