Senior Hamas leader praises international Palestine statehood recognition, says it is 'benefit of October 7' attack

A senior member of Hamas’ political bureau told CNN that it remains unapologetic about the Oct. 7 mass terror attack on Israeli civilians.

On Oct. 7, 2023, at least 3,000 Hamas terrorists and Gaza civilians crossed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 others – including mothers, Holocaust survivors, and small children – from southern Israeli border communities, in what became the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Ghazi Hamad told CNN that Hamas terrorists only attacked military Israeli targets and "never intended to kidnap civilians.”

However, the overwhelming majority of the Israelis and other nationalities who were murdered or kidnapped during the invasion were civilians.

The senior Hamas official confirmed that the group views international condemnations of Israel and the recognition of a Palestinian state as direct rewards for the Oct. 7 attacks. Hamad said Hamas believes that the massacre and kidnappings ultimately advanced the Palestinian cause.

“You know what the benefit of October 7 is now? …If you look at the (United Nations) General Assembly yesterday, when about 194 people opened their eyes and looked at the atrocity, the brutality of Israel and all of them, they condemned Israel,” Hamad said. "We waited for this moment for 77 years.”

Another senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, expressed similar views in an interview with Al-Mayadeen, saying that the group regards the international diplomatic recognition as a political reward for the Oct. 7 attacks and kidnappings.

France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Portugal, and several other Western nations unilaterally recognized a “Palestinian state,” despite opposition from Israel and the United States. Both the U.S. and Israel warned that these recognitions could be perceived as rewarding Hamas for the Oct. 7 attacks and emboldening radical actors in the Middle East.

Hamad was one of several top Hamas leaders who survived an Israeli aerial strike on Hamas’ headquarters in the Qatari capital, Doha, early this month. Hamad recalled how he and the other Hamas officials survived the attack in an interview earlier this month with Qatar's Al Jazeera network.

“We were sitting to discuss the American proposal to end the war. Less than an hour later, we heard explosions and immediately realized it was an assassination attempt. As residents of Gaza, we recognize these sounds. We tried to flee the area as quickly as possible – and we succeeded,” he said.

CNN noted that Hamad declined to take responsibility for the widespread destruction in Gaza and quoted him saying that Gazans “are proud to sacrifice martyrs.” CNN also noted that, when shown images of the devastation, he “refused to look at the footage for more than a few seconds,” pushing the iPad displaying the images away.

Many civilians in Gaza are reportedly growing increasingly resentful of Hamad and other senior Hamas officials who live in luxury hotels in Qatar, while ordinary Gazans struggle to survive amid the devastation.

Hamad denied that the terror group is using the Israeli hostages as human shields. Instead, he claimed that Hamas treats the hostages “with Islamic principles” without elaborating. Former hostages have confirmed that Hamas leaders systematically used them as human shields in flagrant violation of international law.

Before the Oct. 7 attack, some Western commentators mistakenly suggested that Hamas had softened its goal of eliminating Israel and embraced a peaceful two-state solution. However, just weeks after the massacre, Hamad told Lebanese media that Hamas remained committed to the destruction of the Jewish state.

“Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation and must be finished. We are not ashamed to say this, with full force,” he stated.

Hamad openly praised the Oct. 7 atrocities and vowed that Hamas would repeat them until Israel was destroyed.

“We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again. The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight,” the senior Hamas official said.