Khaled Meshal, one of Hamas's most senior leaders, expressed confidence that President Joe Biden will allow the Palestinian terror group to remain in control of Gaza.
In an interview with the New York Times published on Tuesday, Meshal noted that Biden has stopped echoing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's commitment to Hamas's eradication and has pushed indirect negotiations with Hamas for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza war.
"The Israeli-American vision wasn’t talking about the day after the war, but the day after Hamas," Meshal said, referring to the initial U.S. position.
Now, he said, the Biden administration is saying, "We’re waiting for Hamas’s response."
"They’re practically recognizing Hamas," he added.
Meshal, speaking from Doha, Qatar, where he is based, also expressed confidence in the interview that Hamas is winning the war against Israel.
"Hamas has the upper hand," he said, echoing similar comments by another senior Hamas official to AFP on Sunday. "It has remained steadfast" and brought the Israeli military to "a state of attrition."
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 Hamas terrorists in Gaza during the war, more than half of the estimated total number. Netanyahu said earlier this year in a podcast interview that "total victory" over the group will likely take years.
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said last week that Hamas "as a military formation no longer exists." He separately told Israeli troops to prepare for a ground invasion of Lebanon amid escalating conflict with Hezbollah, a Hamas ally and fellow Iran-backed terror group in the country.