Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh smiles after delivering a speech in Gaza City, April 30, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Mohammed Salem.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh declared on Monday that the normalization accords reached by several Arab nations with Israel in recent months were a “political sin,” but added that his group would not fight them over this.

“We reject normalization between any Arab country and the Israeli occupation,” Haniyeh said in remarks at a virtual conference, according to the Hamas website. “Hamas will not deviate its compass to get into a conflict with any Arab state even though we consider normalization a political sin.”

The Gaza Strip-ruling Islamist terrorist organization has harshly denounced the recent normalization deals. Last month, in response to such criticism, a United Arab Emirates official referred to both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority as “corrupt” and “murderer[s].”

Haniyeh, who has led Hamas’ political bureau since 2017, also indicated that the group would benefit from the upcoming transfer of power in the US from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden.

“We don’t bet on successive US administrations, but we [realize] that changes might be in favor of our cause,” Haniyeh stated.

Haniyeh’s longtime predecessor, Khaled Mashaal, celebrated the result of the US election last month. “An evil has distanced itself from us with the end of the Trump administration,” he asserted.