Hamas: Israel-Bahrain pact part of Deal of Century

By Mohammad Majid

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Hamas on Friday called the normalization deal between Bahrain and Israel as an extension of the US administration's Deal of the Century which "obliterates the Palestinian cause".

"Joining these countries to the path of normalization make them complicit with the Deal of the Century which is an aggression on our people," Hazim Qasim, Hamas' spokesman said referring to Bahrain and UAE.

He said such normalization was a support to the Israeli occupation and a bias to the Israeli narrative.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed US President Donald Trump's announcement of reaching a normalization deal between Israel and Bahrain.

This comes nearly a month after the UAE and Israel announced a US-brokered agreement to normalize their relations, including opening embassies in each other's territory.

Bahrain becomes the fourth Arab country to have diplomatic relations with Israel, after Egypt in 1979, Jordan 1994 and the United Arab Emirates in August 2020.

US President Donald Trump in January announced a Mideast peace plan that has been dubbed as the Deal of the Century.

* Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara