A Hamas senior official invited US billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday to visit the Palestinian Gaza Strip to see the extent of destruction caused by the Israeli bombardment.
"We invite him to visit Gaza to see the extent of the massacres and destruction committed against the people of Gaza, in compliance with the standards of objectivity and credibility," Hamas' senior official Osama Hamdan said in a press conference in Beirut.
On Monday, Musk, the social media mogul assailed for his endorsement of an anti-Jewish post, toured the site of the Hamas assault on Israel and declared his commitment to do whatever was necessary to stop the spread of hatred.
Musk owns the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
A temporary truce
Hamdan's comments come one day after a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas was extended for an additional 48 hours.
"Within 50 days, Israel dropped more than 40,000 tonnes of explosives on the homes of defenseless Gazans," he said, "I call on US President [Joe] Biden to review the US relationship with Israel and to stop supplying them with weapons."
Israel has said that Hamas has purposely made civilians into human shields by embedding its operatives and operations near or in civilian areas in order to multiply civilian casualties and damage, including Al-Shifa Hospital. It also says that many of the rockets fired against Israel have fallen short and landed in Gaza - for example, the one that hit Al-Shifa on October 17.
Speaking about the destruction of Gaza caused by Israel since the conflict began on October 7, Hamdan called on the international community to quickly send specialized civil defense teams to help retrieve bodies still trapped under the rubble. According to the Palestinian foreign ministry, thousands are still trapped.
"Within 50 days, Israel dropped more than 40,000 tonnes of explosives on the homes of defenseless Gazans. I call on US President Biden to review the US relationship with Israel and to stop supplying them with weapons."
Hamas' senior official Osama Hamdan
The truce agreed to last week was the first halt in fighting in the seven weeks since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages back into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
In response to that attack, Israel has bombarded the enclave and mounted a ground offensive in the North. At least 16,000 Palestinians have been killed, Palestinian health officials say, and hundreds of thousands displaced.