The new leader of Hamas said Monday the Palestinian terrorist group has repaired relations with Iran after several years of strain and will use restored military and financial aid to face down hostilities with Israel.
Yehya Sinwar said in his first media briefing with reporters that relations with Iran are "excellent" despite disagreements regarding the Syrian civil war, adding that Tehran is now the "largest supporter financially and militarily" of Hamas's armed branch, the Times of Israel reported.
Sinwar said Iran's backing will enable Hamas to develop needed military strength for "the liberation of Palestine."
"Every day we build missiles and continue military training," he said, though he heeded the group seeks to avoid war for now.
"We are not interested in a war, we do not want war and we want to push it backward as much as we could so that our people will relax and take their breath and in the same time we are building our power," he said. "We do not fear war and we are fully ready for it."
The revived alliance follows a five-year rift spurred by Hamas's refusal to back Iran's close ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the Syrian civil war.
The announcement from Sinwar arrived as United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres traveled to Israel for his first official visit. Guterres warned adversaries of the Jewish state against calling for its destruction and said such rhetoric equated modern anti-Semitism.
Hamas seeks the destruction of Israel and has fought three wars against the country since 2007. In May, the group attempted to soften its stance toward the Jewish state in an updated policy manifesto that dropped calls for Israel's destruction but stopped short of recognizing its right to exist.
Israel rejected the manifesto as a façade by Hamas to appear more moderate to the rest of the world. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce demanded the group remain a U.S. designated terrorist organization "as long as it continues to launch rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, remains an Iranian proxy, and engages in other acts that threaten the U.S. and Israel."