About two weeks after surviving an Israeli assassination attempt in Doha, senior Hamas official Razi Hamad appeared again before cameras, telling CNN that the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel “created a golden opportunity for a Palestinian state.”
Hamad made the remarks Friday on the U.S. network’s news program, where he was presented with testimonies from Gazans who oppose Hamas rule. “I know the price is high, but we waited for this moment for 77 years,” he said. More than a month after the killings, Hamad continued to boast about the attack.
The Hamas official, who was targeted in Qatar during Israel’s Summit of Fire operation in Doha, had already reappeared publicly in an interview with Al Jazeera. He told CNN that his survival was “a miracle” and accused the United States of complicity. “It is as guilty of that intelligence as Israel,” he said. “The attack ensured that negotiations would stop abruptly. They are frozen. The U.S. failed and did not act in good faith, it cooperated with Israel. That is the problem with them, they cannot be neutral mediators.”
Hamad praised the international fallout following Oct. 7, saying the attack forced the world to focus on Gaza. “You know what the benefit of Oct. 7 is now? Look at the UN,” he said. “194 people opened their eyes and saw the horrors in Gaza and the cruelty of Israel. They condemned Israel. This is a golden opportunity to change history. I know people are suffering (in Gaza), but what is the alternative?”
His comments followed a video speech by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the United Nations in which Abbas condemned the Oct. 7 massacre. They came before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the body, in which Netanyahu displayed a pin with a barcode that linked to a website detailing Hamas atrocities.
During the CNN interview, Hamad refused to watch videos of demonstrations in Gaza showing protesters calling on Hamas to relinquish control of the territory and describing the group’s leaders as “out of touch with reality.” He dismissed the clips, saying, “I’ve already seen them.”
He also rejected accusations that Hamas was holding Israeli hostages as human shields in Gaza City. “There is no proof of that. We act according to the rules of Islam,” he claimed. Asked whether Hamas would allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the hostages, he evaded the question, saying only that “the situation on the ground is complicated because of Israel.”
Hamad defended Hamas’ armed operations, calling them legitimate. “Our military wing is a legitimate lawful weapon. We are fighting the occupation. You cannot separate Hamas from Palestine. We have a positive role in its future. We will never surrender.”
The Hamas official recalled the moments of the strike in Doha that targeted him and other members of the group’s leadership. “We were in a meeting with the negotiating delegation and some advisers, and less than an hour after discussion began on the American proposal we had received, we heard huge explosions. We left immediately because we understood it was an Israeli strike. We survived despite the ferocity of the bombardment — about 12 missiles fell in less than a minute. By God’s grace we survived.”
In his earlier Al Jazeera interview, Hamad said that Hamas was not the only target of Israel’s actions but the wider Arab world. “We are not the only target — the whole nation is,” he said. “’Israel’ has no red lines. Netanyahu talks about changing the face of the Middle East.”
Hamad accused Washington of working in tandem with Jerusalem against Hamas. “Every time we communicate with the Americans, in one way or another, it becomes clear they do not honor their words and they change the conditions of their proposals in communication with the Israeli occupation. The Americans are partners in the continuing genocide. They presented the proposal, and when Hamas discussed it, Trump gave them permission to bomb the Hamas delegation in Qatar. Trump speaks for the Israelis and supports the killing of Palestinians.”