Jordanian Islamic scholar Sheikh Alaa Jaber discussed the people of Gaza in a September 24, 2024 episode of the Deya Elayyan Podcast on YouTube. He said that they have been selected by Allah to die an "honorable" death. Jaber said they "heroically" took matters into their own hands, crossed into Israel on the "blessed" October 7, and returned to Gaza triumphantly.
Interviewer: "What have the people [of Gaza] done wrong to deserve death?"
Alaa Jaber: "I don't like this question. Instead of asking me what the people who are dying have done... Is it conceivable that when a soccer player wins the Champions League, and he is tired when he lifts his cup, someone would ask: 'What had he done wrong to deserve this? What has he done wrong to be so tired?' Instead of asking what the people who are dying in Gaza have done wrong, ask me why Allah has chosen them of all people. They have been selected.
"Ultimately, everybody will die. Everybody will be gone, eventually. Whether you like it or not, you are leaving this world, but some deaths are honorable, whereas other deaths are worthless. Some of our children die of overdose, brothers. They die of drinking. They die while trying to fulfill forbidden urges. These are not honorable deaths.
[...]
"We did not start this. We have never started [any war]. Read about it. Inquire. Check history. Who carried out World War I?"
Interviewer: "The foreigners."
Jaber: "They did. Who carried out World War II?"
Interviewer: "The foreigners."
Jaber: "Did we, as Muslims, have anything to do with it?"
Interviewer: "No."
Jaber: "So they are the source of all evil upon the land. They are the source of all evil. It's just that we scored an early goal. They wanted to have us for lunch, but we had them for breakfast. The holy and glorious crossing on the blessed [October] 7th is something that we will teach our children to commemorate – the day when the masks of power were taken off the faces of the weak.
[...]
"The brave children of Gaza entered that place, and heroically took things into their own hands. They returned [to Gaza] victorious and triumphant, having removed the lion mask off the face of the cat that wanted to rule the world."