Hamas leader abroad Khaled Mashal said during an interview this week that Hamas was not responsible for killing innocent civilians in Israel and that Israel is the one that must apologize for what happened.

Mashal made the remarks during a Thursday interview on Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya Network with host Rasha Nabil following the unprecedented terrorist attacks on October 7 where more than 1,400 Israeli’s were murdered.

He said that the manner in which Hamas conducted the attacks — which included raping young girls, burning people alive, taking Holocaust survivors hostage, beheading babies, and more — were forms of “legitimate resistance that our people have agreed upon.”

Nabil noted that Western media coverage has largely focused on the heinous crimes against humanity that the terrorists committed, to which Mashal replied all those accusations were “fabricated” by Israel, even though there are photos, videos, and witness testimony about what they did.

He argued that it was okay for Palestinians to be sacrificed because “no nation is liberated without sacrifices.”

When asked about slaughtering civilians — and the overwhelming majority of those killed during the attacks were civilians — he said that is what happens in war and that “we are not responsible for them.”

“Will you apologize for what was done to the Israeli civilians on October 7?” Nabil asked.

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“With all due respect, your question… Forgive me for saying this… Apologies should be demanded from Israel,” he responded. “You asked me a question and I am answering it with clarity. Hamas does not kill civilians on purpose. It focuses on the soldiers. Period.”

He also called on Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group based in Lebanon, to begin launching terror attacks against Israel.

Toward the end of the interview, he suggested that what Hamas wants in exchange for the hostages to be released was for Israel to release roughly 10,000 Palestinian terrorists and criminals who are currently locked up.

WATCH:

Hamas Leader Abroad Khaled Mashal Rejects Accusations of Transgressions against Civilians on October 7 Attack: We Have Nothing to Apologize For; Hamas Only Fights Soldiers, But Sometimes There Are Civilian Victims in War; Hizbullah, Arab Countries Should Do More to Help Us #Hamas… pic.twitter.com/x3O40CFQn8

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) October 20, 2023

The millions in backlogged immigration cases are due to understaffing by the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The GAO reported in a post on Thursday that the DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) had neglected to implement a strategic workforce plan for years, resulting in a sizable backlog further compounded by the ongoing border crisis.

The GAO warned the EOIR back in a 2017 report that it would face long-standing workforce management challenges due to not having a strategic workforce plan. The current case backlog — over 2.6 million — is around five times greater than it was in 2017.

However, that number is likely an undercount of illegal immigrants. Rebecca Gambler, director of GAO Homeland Security and Justice, testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that their counts only reflect those entered into the immigration court system.

“For individuals who have not yet reported to an ICE office or for whom ICE has not yet issued a Notice To Appear, they have not been charged and thus are not in immigration proceedings,” said Gambler.

In an April follow-up report, the GAO discovered that the EOIR still had not developed a strategic workforce plan or set workforce planning goals. The GAO also noted that the EOIR didn’t have a governance structure for guidance or leadership accountability regarding progress on workforce goals.

“Even though EOIR was continuing to see growing backlogs, we found that it had still not developed a strategic workforce plan or set workforce planning goals, as we had previously recommended,” stated GAO.

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Over 2 million cases are pending in U.S. immigration courts. We found that staffing concerns contributed to the backlog, which can cause delays for noncitizens awaiting hearings.

Our new blog post looks at what the courts can do to address these concerns: https://t.co/f38v58MhSX pic.twitter.com/9Cb2ZYAUIN

— U.S. GAO (@USGAO) October 19, 2023

The GAO found that the EOIR last had an agency-wide strategic workforce plan in 2013.

Gambler further shared in her testimony on Wednesday that EOIR officials were developing a strategic workforce plan, but had not yet offered a timeline for its completion.

“A strategic workforce plan also helps an agency be positioned, then, to speak to Congress about what the resource needs are and how the agency will go about meeting those resource needs,” said Gambler.

Of the six recommendations issued by the GAO in April, EOIR hasn’t taken any responsive actions.

Gambler also revealed that EOIR hasn’t evaluated its judge appraisal program, and that immigration judges have expressed numerous concerns with the program’s feasibility and efficiency.

Efficiency was also a concern raised by court staff regarding EOIR’s electronic filing system, which contains tools for reviewing case information and issuing decisions. Gambler relayed complaints of outages and delays, and noted that EOIR lacked a regular review process for the e-filing system to ensure smooth operations.

According to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), there were about 607,000 cases closed by immigration courts as of August. Judges issued removal and voluntary departure orders for about 39 percent of those cases.

TRAC reported about 35,300 individuals held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention as of September. Over 194,600 were held in ICE Alternatives to Detention (ATD) programs, with San Francisco, California, having the highest number in the programs.