Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, resurfaced after an assassination attempt in Qatar — admitting he and others were meeting to discuss a U.S. proposal when explosions struck. In an Al Jazeera interview he reiterated Hamas’s aim to destroy Israel and shrugged off threats from the U.S.
Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad appeared on Al Jazeera Wednesday — his first public comments since an assassination attempt targeted Hamas figures in Doha, Qatar last week.
Hamad recounted the moment plainly: they were meeting to discuss an American ceasefire proposal when “less than an hour later, we heard explosions and immediately realized it was an assassination attempt.” He said those present recognized the sounds and “tried to flee the area as quickly as possible — and we succeeded.”
Once again, Hamad made clear Hamas’s posture. Brushing off U.S. threats, he declared:
“We are not afraid of Trump’s threats to unleash hell upon us. We do not take orders from him on how to treat enemy prisoners. We treat them according to our own methods and according to our religion.”
Hamad — formerly a Hamas spokesman and deputy foreign minister and now chairman of Gaza’s Energy Authority — has long been a hardline figure. A veteran of the movement since its 1987 founding and a former Israeli prisoner for membership in Hamas, he has previously called for the destruction of Israel:
“Israel is a state that has no place on our land. It is a state we want to bring down.”
The interview underlines two urgent realities: first, Hamas leadership continues to operate and coordinate in foreign capitals such as Qatar; second, its leaders openly reject diplomatic pressure and continue to embrace maximalist, violent goals toward Israel. The Doha attack — whether aimed at disrupting Hamas’s command or punishing its leadership — highlights the dangers that Hamas leadership poses, even while they sit in negotiation rooms.
Hamad’s defiant rhetoric and his role in past hostage deals only underscore the paradox: negotiators who profess interest in talks while publicly glorifying terrorism and denying Israel’s right to exist.
