Senior Hamas Leader Rejects Blame Amid Spiraling Gaza Toll in Interview with CNN

In a rare, wide-ranging interview conducted in Doha, CNN correspondent Jeremy Diamond pressed senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad on his group’s responsibility for the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza,  and on the carnage unleashed following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

The war now stretches nearly two years, and Gaza has borne an immense human cost. According to the Palestinian health ministry, more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed, hundreds of thousands have been displaced, and the destruction across the territory is near total.

Diamond asked Hamad point-blank: “Do you accept any responsibility for triggering so much death and destruction?” Hamad, however, refused to concede culpability, contending that the narrative must begin long before October 7. He argued that Palestinians have endured “78 years under the occupation, under humiliation, under oppression” and questioned why global scrutiny focuses so narrowly on that day.

But Diamond countered that “before October 7, Israel had never unleashed this level of death and destruction on Gaza.” He challenged Hamad to explain how he could categorically reject any role for Hamas in fueling the cycle of violence.

When pressed about civilian casualties, including children, Hamad maintained that Hamas “fights for the interests of the people” and insisted that it “does not want our people to be killed.” He rebuffed the notion that Hamas should shoulder the blame, urging that international discourse should consider the larger context of Israeli actions.

Diamond further questioned the moral calculus behind what he described as a “price worth paying” — civilian deaths accepted as collateral damage in pursuit of resistance. Hamad framed his argument around what he characterized as a lack of viable alternatives: he said Palestinians had long awaited a peaceful resolution (e.g. since the Oslo Accords) but have been met instead with occupation and violence.

On the subject of Hamas’s future role, Hamad claimed the organization was open to relinquishing formal governance of Gaza, but not its armed “resistance” mission. He defended its arsenal as legitimate and argued it is directed “all the time against occupation,” rejecting the label of “terrorist weapon.”

Diamond also confronted Hamad on the status of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Although Hamas has asserted the detainees are being cared for under Islamic law, Hamad refused to allow Red Cross access to verify their conditions, citing complications on the ground.

Taken together, the interview reveals a deep gulf, not just of interests, but of narratives. Hamad frames Hamas’s actions as a form of resistance to decades of suffering; Diamond insists that Hamas must answer for the destructive fallout that has consumed Gaza. As the war grinds on and diplomatic pathways remain stalled, the stakes for accountability and reconciliation appear ever more remote.