Hamas says Iran attack on Israel ‘legitimate and deserved’

A Long exposure photo taken from a position in northern Israel near the border with southern Lebanon, shows a rocket fired from Israel heading towards southern Lebanon on April 17, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. | Photo Credit: AFP

Palestinian militant group Hamas said on April 17 that Iran’s weekend attack on Israel was a “legitimate and deserved” response to a strike on the Islamic republic’s consulate in Syria.

In its first reaction to the Iranian aerial attack, Hamas said it was a “legitimate and deserved response to the Zionist entity’s... targeting of the Iranian consulate building in Damascus” on April 1.

“The response from the Islamic Republic of Iran confirms that the time when the Zionist entity (Israeli) could act as it wanted without accountability or punishment has ended,” Hamas added in a statement.