On February 15, United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary-General in charge of humanitarian affairs Martin Griffiths said that Hamas is not a terrorist group but a " political movement".
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| United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths. (Source: Getty Images) |
In an interview with Sky News (UK), the host asked, “Considering Israel's plan to eliminate Hamas and demand that they never participate in any future negotiations regarding the Gaza Strip, is that realistic?”
“For us, Hamas is not a terrorist organization, as you might think… It is a political movement. I think it is very difficult to defeat such organizations without a diplomatic solution through negotiation and taking into account their aspirations,” stressed Martin Griffiths, who is responsible for coordinating humanitarian relief operations for the UN.
Asked about the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Deputy Secretary-General Griffiths expressed understanding for what Israel had suffered, but the UN official stressed that Israel needed to build neighborly relations regardless of what happened.
Shortly thereafter, on the same day, Foreign Minister Israel Katz criticized the above statement by UN Deputy Secretary-General Griffiths as "shameful".
Mr Griffiths later tweeted that Hamas was not on the list of groups designated as terrorist organisations by the UN Security Council, but that did not make their actions on 7 October any less horrific.
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