An aerial view shows the bodies of victims of an attack following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip lying on the ground in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg

After the head of Hamas’s foreign relations office in Qatar told the New York Times in an article published on Monday that he would not have supported the Palestinian terrorist organization’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel if he knew what kind of destruction it would bring to Gaza, a Hamas spokesperson rebuked his statement and said it does not represent the views of the Islamist group.

“If it was expected that what happened would happen, there wouldn’t have been Oct. 7,” senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk told the Times, claiming he was not privy to the exact details of the planned invasion of southern Israel.

Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, kidnapped 251 hostages, and perpetrated mass sexual violence against Israelis during their Oct. 7 massacre. Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.

Abu Marzouk told the Times that it would be “unacceptable” to say Hamas won the Gaza war given the level of destruction the conflict caused in the coastal enclave. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), about 20,000 Hamas terrorists were also killed in the war, suggesting the group lost a significant portion of its fighting force.

Referring to Israel, Abu Marzouk said, “We’re talking about a party that lost control of itself and took revenge against everything … That is not a victory under any circumstances.” However, he added, “Hamas’s survival in the war against Israel was itself a kind of victory.”

Abu Marzouk did not mention Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.

Abu Marzouk’s comments marked a departure from previous statements by Hamas officials regarding the Oct. 7 attack. Less than three weeks after the onslaught, for example, Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s political bureau and a spokesman for the Iran-backed terror organization, told Lebanon’s LBC TV that the terrorist group will repeat its massacre of Israelis “again and again” to bring about the Jewish state’s “annihilation.”

Months later, Hamas’s representative in Lebanon, Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi, told Lebanon’s Annahar newspaper that the terrorist group would carry out its brutal Oct. 7 invasion of and massacre across southern Israel again if it could travel back in time.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem echoed such support for the Oct. 7 atrocities in a statement that was quickly put out to counter Abu Marzouk’s latest comments.

“Hamas is committed to its resistance weapon as a legitimate right, and there is no discussion about that as long as there is an occupation of our Palestinian land,” Qassem said. “The statements attributed to Mousa Abu Marzouk do not represent Hamas’s position.”

The spokesperson argued that “the occupation’s aggressive and destructive behavior is the cause of the destruction in Gaza” rather than the actions of Hamas. “The Oct 7 epic marks a strategic turning point in the Palestinian national struggle,” he added. “Dr. Abu Marzouk has emphasized that the blessed operation of Oct. 7 was an expression of our people’s right to resist and their rejection of the siege, occupation, and settlements.”

Qassem also claimed that Abu Marzouk’s comments were “incorrect and taken out of context,” with the Hamas statement taking a shot at the New York Times: “The interview was conducted a few days ago and the published statements did not reflect the full content of the answers.”

Some observers have argued that Abu Marzouk’s answers to the Times regarding the Oct. 7 attack were likely part of a public relations strategy to boost its perception in the West.

Khalil Sayegh, co-founder and president of the Agora Initiative, which aims to create “a shared vision for Palestine and Israel,” wrote on X that Hamas “is still emphasizing to the Arab world that Oct. 7 was a great victory” and that the purpose of the Times interview was “to mislead the American public to believe that Hamas regrets their decision on Oct. 7.”

“Don’t fall for Hamas’s lies,” Sayegh added.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas leaders have consistently expressed their satisfaction with the attack and their view that the terrorist group has achieved victory in the war.

After the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal was reached last month, Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya said in a speech that “what occurred on Oct. 7 — a miraculous military and security achievement by the elite Qassam Brigades — will remain a source of pride for our people and resistance, passed down through generations.”

Then, on Feb. 15, at the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan spoke about expanding the resistance against Israel. He argued that “the region’s basic tool is its ability to slap Israel whenever it wants, and do this at a high level, and we proved this on Oct. 7.”

At the same forum, Hamdan referred to “the victory in Gaza” and said that “Oct. 7, 2023, was a historic achievement and an astonishing success that gave Palestinians a sense of confidence.”

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal last year, then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said he was glad about the position in which Hamas had put itself and Gaza, with no indication he regretted anything about starting the war. “We have the Israelis right where we want them,” he reportedly said.

The Journal also reported that Sinwar sent a message to Hamas leaders in Doha in which he referred to the civilians who died in Gaza as “necessary sacrifices.”