Izzat al-Rishq’s remarks came shortly after the Israeli army announced that it had discovered the bodies of six hostages in Gaza, asserting that they had been killed by Hamas.
“The ones who kill our people daily are the Israeli colonizers with American weapons. The hostages found in Gaza were not killed by us but by the relentless Zionist bombardment,” Rishq said in a statement.
He further criticized the U.S., saying, “If President [Joe] Biden truly cares about the lives of Israeli hostages, he should cease his support for this enemy with money and weapons and pressure Israel to end its aggression immediately.”
Hamas prefers armed resistance, yes. Nonetheless, they were elected and in power in a democratic fashion (before it all went to shit).
Being elected democratically does not make you a government. It makes you in charge.
A functional government needs to perform things like taxation and civic spending. As far as I can tell, Hamas didn’t do those things. Most the infrastructure in Gaza was built by foreign aid groups.
Hamas did do those things. They were part of the unity government before the civil war. But those governments ultimately didn’t last long so you won’t find that much impact.
Nonetheless, they were part of a government that performed its normal governmental duties. Or at least tried to, as the moment they got in charge the international community effectively embargoed Palestine, with Israel even arresting several ministers. Their effectiveness was therefore very limited. But that does not mean they weren’t a proper government.