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.”

The post Hamas Spokesperson Rebukes Terror Group Leader’s Comments to New York Times Expressing Regret About Oct. 7 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

A woman holds a cut-out picture of hostages Shiri Bibas, 32, with Kfir Bibas, 9 months old, who were kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas and then killed in Gaza, on the day of their funeral procession, at a public square dedicated to hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Shir Torem

Israelis mourned the family that symbolized the trauma their country suffered in the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, as the Palestinian terrorist group agreed to free the last hostage bodies included in the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire.

Hamas said the bodies of Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, and Shlomo Mantzur would be released on Wednesday night and added that a hospital in Gaza was preparing to receive Palestinian prisoners who would be released in exchange.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said an agreement was reached for the handover of bodies of four deceased hostages, but it did not name them.

The resolution came on the same day as the funeral of the Bibas family following the handover of the bodies of nine-month-old Kfir Bibas, his four-year-old brother Ariel, and their mother Shiri last week.

The youngest hostages seized during the attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, were killed weeks after they were abducted into the Gaza Strip.

Israel says it has intelligence and forensic evidence that shows the boys and their mother were killed by their captors using their bare hands. Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Thousands of people, some in tears, carrying blue and white Israeli flags or photographs of the family, walked in procession or waited as a convoy bearing the coffins drove past. Many were carrying orange balloons, a symbol of mourning for the hostages, matching the red hair of the two Bibas boys.

“It’s still not really registering,” said Tal Ben-Shimon, who joined mourners at what has come to be known as Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. “They kind of represent all the families, the very young families, who were slaughtered on that day.”

Yarden Bibas, the father of the boys, who was captured separately from his family and released earlier this month, paid tribute in an emotional eulogy at their funeral.

“I hope you know I thought about you every day, every minute,” he said in an address carried live on Israeli television.

For Israelis, the Bibas family has become an emblem of the trauma that has haunted their country since the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken back to Gaza as hostages.

Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza. But fighting has stopped since the fragile ceasefire agreement brokered by Egyptian and Qatari mediators last month.

Under the deal, Hamas agreed to hand over 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from some of their positions in Gaza as well as an influx of aid.

BREAKTHROUGH SECURED

On Wednesday, Egyptian mediators confirmed they had secured a breakthrough that should allow the handover of the final four hostage bodies due in the first phase of the deal this week after a days-long impasse.

Hamas confirmed that an agreement had been reached for the exchange of hostages for prisoners, that would be conducted under a new mechanism.

It said the European Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Younis was preparing to receive released prisoners as early as Wednesday night. The Israeli Prison Service said it had received the list of prisoners and detainees and that preparations were under way for their release.

An Israeli official said the bodies of the hostages were expected to be handed in the evening. Netanyahu’s office said their release would not include a Hamas ceremony.

The Hamas-staged ceremonies in which living hostages and coffins carrying hostage remains have been displayed on stage before a crowd in Gaza have drawn increasing criticism, including from the United Nations.

Israel had refused to release more than 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday after Hamas handed over six living hostages in such a ceremony.

Days earlier, the agreement was held up when Hamas handed over the remains of an unidentified woman instead of Shiri Bibas before delivering the correct body the next day.

With the 42-day truce due to expire on Saturday, it remains unclear whether an extension will be agreed or whether negotiations can begin on a second stage of the deal, which would see the release of the remaining 59 hostages in Gaza.

Despite numerous hiccups, the ceasefire deal has held. But moving to a second phase would require agreements on issues that have proved impossible to bridge so far, including the postwar future of Gaza and Hamas, which Israel has vowed to eliminate as a governing force.

Hamas said that it has not received any proposals so far.

The post Israel Mourns Bibas Family as Hamas Agrees to Free Last Hostage Bodies Under Phase One of Gaza Truce first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters speaks during an interview with Reuters in London, Britain, July 1, 2024. Photo: Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett

A judge in the United Kingdom ruled on Tuesday that Pink Floyd co-founder and former lead singer Roger Waters defamed a Jewish British film producer and investigative journalist.

The High Court in London rejected Waters’ argument that his assertions targeting John Ware were his honest opinions about Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip and not a statement of fact. Justice Jennifer Eady ruled that Waters made inflammatory statements that he tried to pass as fact, making them defamatory. Eady’s ruling reportedly means the defense will have to settle or the lawsuit will advance to trial.

“The statements are defamatory of the claimant at common law,” Eady wrote in her ruling. “Although I would accept that the first defendant’s reference to a ‘genocide’ expressed his opinion as to what was happening as a result of the actions of Israeli forces in Gaza (to which he had already referred), in stating that the claimant positively supported that ‘genocide,’ I find he was making a statement of fact.”

Ware, who produced and presented the documentary “The Dark Side of Roger Waters,” sued the singer and the Qatar-based Al Jazeera media network for defamation. He filed the lawsuit after Rogers claimed that Ware was a “lying, conniving Zionist mouthpiece” and accused him of “cheerleading the genocide of Palestinians” during an interview on the Al Jazeera show “The Stream.” Rogers also described Ware as a “pro-Zionist, pro-genocider.”

“The Dark Side of Roger Waters” highlighted various incidents in which the musician displayed antisemitic behavior toward not only individual Jewish people but also the Jewish community at large, including in previously unrevealed e-mails. It featured several interviews with people close to Waters, including his saxophonist Norbert Statchel and Bob Ezrin, the producer of Pink Floyd’s album “The Wall.”

The documentary was released in October 2023 on YouTube by the UK-based advocacy group Campaign Against Antisemitism. Waters previously criticized the film in a lengthy statement on his website. He called it “a flimsy, unapologetic piece of propaganda that indiscriminately mixes things I’m alleged to have said or done at different times and in different contexts, in an effort to portray me as an antisemite, without any foundation in fact.” In the same statement he denied being an antisemite, echoing a claim he has made several times throughout his career.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism commented on Eady’s ruling in a released statement.

“We welcome this judgment on the meaning of Roger Waters’ nonsense rant following John Ware’s production of our documentary, “The Dark Side of Roger Waters,” exposing Mr. Waters’ history of inflammatory conduct towards Jewish people,” the statement read.

“Those who claim that someone alleging antisemitism is just a ‘cheerleader for genocide’ are just spouting a modernized version of the trope that those who allege antisemitism are merely trying to silence criticism of Israel,” the spokesperson added. “[Former leader of the British Labour Party] Jeremy Corbyn tried it, and it doesn’t hold water. It’s a line long used by people like Mr. Waters, and it is high time that he faces repercussions for his big mouth and long history of Jew baiting.”

Rogers has been regularly accused of antisemitism, including by his former bandmate David Gilmour and Polly Samson, a lyricist for Pink Floyd and Gilmour’s wife. He is an avid supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide and apartheid, and has compared the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.

Rogers has also called Israel “extremely evil” and promoted antisemitic tropes about Jewish power. He defended Hamas for orchestrating the deadly massacre in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and claimed there is “no evidence” that the terrorists sexually assaulted their victims, despite widespread evidence proving systematic sexual violence, including testimonies from former hostages kidnapped by Hamas.

The musician and anti-Israel activist has performed on stage wearing a swastika-like badge, used sets that included giant inflatable pigs emblazoned with a Star of David, and featured inappropriate Holocaust-related imagery in his shows.

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