Ali Baraka of Hamas. ( Screenshot.)
In an interview with NBC News, a senior Hamas official denied that Iran supported or sanctioned the operation.
Iran was not given a heads up ahead of Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel Saturday morning, according to the Gaza terror group’s director of national relations abroad Ali Baraka.
“It was a surprise to everyone, including Iran,” Baraka tells NBC News in an interview.
“We did not inform them that there was an operation that would happen at dawn on Oct. 7, he adds. “After the operation began, we informed Iran.”
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Iran helped plan the attack but officials from various countries involved have since refuted the claim.
Ali Baraka is head of Hamas National Relations Abroad.
December 2022. During a speech commemorating Hamas’s 35th anniversary, Baraka warns Hamas’s missiles can strike any part of Israel. Baraka cites a Hamas missile fired t oward Eilat, Israel, in May 2021, which caused the Eilat Ramon Airport to briefly suspend operations. Baraka calls for Israel to immediately lift its blockade of Gaza.
He previously acted as Hamas’s representative in Lebanon from 2011 to 2019. During that time Baraka met with international diplomats based in Lebanon on behalf of Hamas and spoke out in support of Hamas’s violent campaigns.
