Palestinian group Hamas emphasised that the interview did not reflect the full scope of senior official Mousa Abu Marzouk’s responses, and that the statements published were edited in a way that distorted their true meaning. [Getty]
Gaza’s ruling group Hamas slammed a Monday report by The New York Times on comments made by one of its top officials about the October 7 attack as inaccurate.
In a statement, Hamas said that the US publication misrepresented remarks made by Mousa Abu Marzouk, the head of Hamas’s foreign relations office, taking them out of context.
In the NYT report, Abu Marzouk was said to have expressed doubts about the decision to launch the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, due to the grave repercussions.
Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Abu Marzouk was quoted as saying that had he realised the scale of devastation that has ravaged Gaza, he would not have supported the attack, adding that it would have been “impossible” for him to back the assault.
According to the NYT, Abu Marzouk was not informed of the detailed plans for the attack but had shown support for the general proposal to attack Israel militarily.
“If it was expected that what happened would happen, there wouldn’t have been October 7,” he was quoted by the NYT as saying.
Hamas has since argued that the comments were “incorrect and have been taken out of context” adding that “the published statements did not reflect the full content of the answers”.
The Palestinian group said that “the blessed October 7 operation is an expression of our people’s right to resist and reject the siege, occupation, and settlement building”.
In reference to Abu Marzouk’s comments being presented as criticism of Hamas’ conduct, the group stated that the official views Israel as wholly accountable “for the war crimes and genocide committed against our people in Gaza, which constitute violations of international law and shocked the entire world”.
It continued: “Dr. Abu Marzouk reiterated the movement’s firm stance in asserting our people’s right to resistance in all its forms, including armed resistance, until liberation and return.”
The group also denied the publication’s suggestion that Abu Marzouk indicated any willingness from Hamas to negotiate with Israel on the future of the group’s possession of weapons in Gaza.
“We are ready to speak about every issue,” he was quoting as saying, when questioned on the topic of weaponry.
“Any issue that is put on the table, we need to speak about it.”
However, the NYT reported that Abu Marzouk refused to disclose whether his group would consider any potential compromises, such as disarmament or the recruitment of fighters.
The group said the Hamas official “clarified that the resistance’s weaponry belongs to our people, aimed at protecting our people and holy sites, and cannot be compromised or relinquished as long as our land is under occupation”.
Despite Hamas’ rejection, Abu Marzouk appeared to contradict fellow Hamas official Osama Hamdan, who told a conference in the Qatari capital, earlier this month that “the weapons of the resistance” were not up for discussion.
The New York Times stated that Abu Marzouk was asked about Hamdan’s remarks, to which he responded that no single leader could solely establish the group’s agenda.
Ibrahim Madhoun, an analyst close to Hamas, told the publication that while there are multiple views within the group on various topics, once its institutions reach a final decision, all members stand behind it.
Questions have continued to be raised about whether Hamas will consider relinquishing control of Gaza, either voluntarily or under growing external and internal pressure, as the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire is set to end on Saturday.
In a previous report by The New Arab, experts detailed that, due to the scale of destruction and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged territory, it will be difficult for Hamas to maintain control of Gaza, as all it has left are its weapons.
As reported by The New Arab, recent polls have suggested that Hamas’s popularity within Gaza is declining, which could be a result of ongoing economic hardships and the devastating effects of Israel’s war.
A poll conducted last September revealed that only 39 percent of Palestinians in Gaza endorsed Hamas’s actions against Israel, while a separate poll in March 2024 indicated that just 35 percent of Gaza’s residents backed the movement, illustrating growing discontent with Hamas’s leadership.
