'Waited for this moment': Hamas leader says Palestinians paid ‘high price’ to expose Israel on world stage

A senior official of Hamas has defended the price Palestinians are having to pay after their brutal October 7 attacks killed 1,200 people in Israel.

In an interview with CNN, senior Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad, who recently survived an Isrsaeli airstrike, said that the 'benefit' of the October 7 attacks was the growing criticism of the international community against Israel's 'brutality' in Gaza.

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

Ghazi made this comment despite more than 65,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, losing their lives in the continued Israeli attacks in Gaza.

“I think this is a golden moment for the world to change the history,” Ghazi also said.

Palestinian Authority criticises Hamas

The Palestinian Authority has criticised the October 7 attacks, and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, in his speech to the UN, has stateed that Hamas would have no role in the Palestinian state.

When asked in the interview whether he believes Hamas shares some responsibility for the unprecedented destruction and loss of lives in Gaza, Ghazi said, “I know the price (is) so high, but I’m asking again, what is the option?”

During the interview Ghazi was also shown footage of anti-Hamas protests in Gaza, in which people are asking the group to give up its hold on power. In the footage, one protestor said, “Our message to Hamas is, stop gambling and adventuring with us. You are disconnected from reality. Especially since the Hamas leadership is located outside of Gaza. Some people say they killed with our children’s flesh, while they sat in hotels.”

Ghazi, as per the publication, refused to look at the footage for more than a few seconds, and instead blamed Israel for the disgruntlement in Gaza.

Israel kills Hamas leader Wael Matria

On Friday, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) and Shin Bet (Israel's anti-terror General Security Service) attacked the Shati area in Gaza and, in an airstrike, eliminated Wael Matria, who served as commander of the Nahkba section in the Shati battalion of Hamas in the Gaza City area.

Wael Matria took part in the raid on the Nahal Oz military outpost in the massacre on October 7, and as part of his role during the war, he promoted terrorist plots against IDF forces in the Gaza Strip.

With ANI inputs