KUALA LUMPUR: The relentless attack by the Israeli forces against the Palestinians in Gaza is no longer war against the Hamas movement, but a clear act of genocide, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.
The former prime minister said this during his 15-minute long telephone conversation with Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh on Oct 27.
The clip of the telephone conversation between Dr Mahathir and Ismail Haneyah was shared on the social media accounts of the former yesterday.
"What is happening now is no longer war. It is genocide. It is an attempt to kill as many Palestinians as possible, including innocent people.
"So that is the purpose of Israel attack now... It is not about fighting a war. It is just about trying to commit genocide.
"It is not the Palestinians (who are) attacking Israel. It is just Israel wanting to kill as many Palestinians as possible," he said.
Dr Mahathir went on and claimed: "And even if you (the people of Palestine) do not fight them (the Israeli forces), they are trying to kill you because that is the final solution as made out by (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu.
"It is a humanitarian problem in which the Israeli (forces) are trying to commit crime and wanting to commit genocide of the Palestinians.
"And in the process, many people who are not members of (the) Hamas (movement) but they are regarded as collaterals and they are also being killed."
In the clip of the telephone conversation, Ismail Haneyah was speaking in Arabic language telling off the incorrect narrative propagated by certain quarters of drawing similarities between Hamas and other terrorist groups.
According to a translation of Ismail Haneyah's conversation as displayed in the clip, he said that Hamas is a legitimate organisation supported by the Palestinian people in its struggles for the liberation of Palestine.
Dr Mahathir responded when he said: "It is the people of Palestine wanting to regain their own land, they are fighting for their own liberation but the Israelis (forces) are trying to occupy more Palestinian land all the time.
"And they have been killing many Palestinians all this while. The action taken by Hamas is fully justified and we will explain that to everybody."
Dr Mahathir added that he also supported the calls for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.
"We also supported the idea of the cessation of fire, not a pause, but truly a cessation of war."