PA President Abbas calls Hamas ‘sons of dogs,’ demands release of US hostages to deprive Israel of ‘excuses’ for Gaza War

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), sharply criticized the terror organization Hamas on Wednesday, calling its members “sons of dogs” and demanding that the group release some of the hostages to stop the Israeli “annihilation in Gaza.”

Abbas’ Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has long been opposed to Hamas, which, in 2007, violently expelled all PLO supporters from the Gaza Strip in a short civil war.

However, Abbas’ unusually harsh comments came as he criticized Hamas for causing the devastation of Gaza and the death of Palestinians. The PLO has not clearly and publicly condemned the Oct. 7 invasion and massacre, although some of its officials have praised the attack.

"בני כלבים, שחררו את מי שאצלכם": הקטע מנאום אבו מאזן בועידת אש"ף - pic.twitter.com/e3V4NdLlmy

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“The first and most important thing is to stop Israel's war of annihilation in Gaza. It must be stopped, hundreds are being killed every day,” Abbas said in a speech at the PLO conference, which was convened to nominate a deputy for the PA’s elderly de facto dictator.

“Why don't we hand over the American hostages? You sons of dogs, release those who are with you and end this story, shut up their [Israel’s] excuses, end it,” Abbas said, addressing Hamas leadership.

“We are facing enormous dangers, the closest to a Nakba – a new disaster that threatens the existence of the Palestinian people and threatens the elimination of the entire national cause,” he said.

He strongly criticized Hamas’ apparent readiness to chalk up the total devastation of Gaza and the death of civilians as “tactical losses” in the pursuit of greater goals.

“Until this moment, we have lost more than 200,000 civilians – killed and wounded – that cannot be called 'tactical losses,' as they are called (by Hamas), as claimed by those who created the disaster of the coup and then created the excuses so that Israel would complete its satanic plot in the destruction of the Gaza Strip and the expulsion of its residents,” Abbas charged.

“If the people are erased, what is left for us? If the people are expelled, what is left for us?” he added.

During his remarks, the PA leader mentioned several questionable statistics, including the number of 200,000 killed and wounded. He added a claim that 2,165 families were completely wiped out by the fighting in Gaza, while 6,664 suffered losses.

Against this backdrop, Abbas renewed his call for Hamas to relinquish control of the Gaza Strip and surrender its weapons to the PA – effectively reversing the 2007 coup. He argued that Israel has exploited the division to “tear apart the Palestinian national fabric and prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”

Hamas should turn into a political party like the Labor party, Abbas demanded, and operate according to the laws of the PA.

According to Abbas, Hamas’ actions have triggered multiple wars, effectively providing a free service to Israel by justifying it to “carry out its plots in the Gaza Strip,” with the biggest excuse being the hostages.

“Why were they kidnapped? The people are paying the price – not Israel,” Abbas stressed.