Ghazi Hamad, a top official in Hamas, appeared Wednesday in a live interview broadcast by Qatari channel Al Jazeera, in the first appearance of a Hamas leader since the Israeli attack on Doha on September 9.
The attack occurred “less than an hour after we began studying the proposal” for a ceasefire in Gaza, he said, referring to a meeting of senior Hamas officials he specified was discussing a US proposal delivered to them via Qatar.
“The rockets came down consecutively, without a pause, around 12 missiles in less than a minute,” he added, saying the group “learned with complete certainty that it is an Israeli attack”.
“God destined us to survive this treacherous aggression against us and sister Qatar,” he said.
According to sources close to Hamas, Hamad was one of six leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement gathered in the building targeted by Israel at the time of the strike, along with chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, former chief Khaled Meshaal, West Bank head Zaher Jabarine and political bureau members Bassem Naim and Taher al-Nounou.
Hayya’s son was killed in the Israeli strike, and Hamas has since said that the chief negotiator himself is alive, but has not provided proof.
AFP