Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad speaks at a press conference in Beirut alongside an image depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Photo: Reuters/Amr Alfiky

A senior leader of Hamas has vowed that the terrorist organization will remain a key player in any future political arrangements in the Gaza Strip, scorning US and Israeli attempts to marginalize or eliminate its participation.

“I think the Americans are dreaming a lot,” Ghazi Hamad, a member of the Hamas political bureau, stated in an interview with the Qatari government-backed media outlet Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

“The Americans who failed in Iraq, who failed in Afghanistan, who failed in Somalia … now they want to restructure Gaza,” Hamad said.

Hamad asserted that Hamas remains a powerful political and military force in Gaza that still determines the course of action in the territory. He insisted that any change in the governance of Gaza was an internal Palestinian matter, adding that Hamas would be involved in any decision.

He also warned the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) against a deal with the US and Israel at the expense of Hamas.

“You must not cooperate with the Americans,” Hamad said, addressing the PA. “And don’t [go into Gaza] on the back of the American tank.” He added that PA President Mahmoud Abbas should reject any American proposals for the PA to rule Gaza, observing that the silence from the PA regarding this matter “raises a question mark.”

Hamad’s remarks coincided with renewed speculation that Qatar — which backs Hamas financially and provides luxury accommodation for its leadership exiled in Doha — was on the verge of brokering the release of some of the more than 200 hostages seized by Hamas terrorists during their Oct. 7 pogrom in southern Israel and taken to Gaza.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed talk of a ceasefire, emphasizing that without the release of the hostages, Israeli military operations against Hamas in Gaza would continue.

“I want to put to the side all sorts of idle rumors that we are hearing from all sorts of directions, and repeat one clear thing: there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu said.

Last week, Hamad caused outrage when he told a Lebanese broadcaster that Hamas sought to replicate its massacre of Israelis “again and again” to bring about the Jewish state’s “annihilation.”

“We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again,” Hamad said. “[The Oct. 7 massacre] is just the first time and there will be a second, a third, a fourth … the occupation must come to an end.”