Hamas official Ghazi Hamad says Israel attempted to assassinate the group’s negotiators in Doha, accusing the US—and Trump personally—of complicity in both the strike and the wider genocide in Gaza.
Ghazi Hamad, a senior member of Hamas’ political bureau, revealed that Israel attempted to assassinate members of the movement’s negotiating delegation in the Qatari capital, Doha, last week, while they were reviewing an American proposal with advisors.
According to Hamad, the attack took place less than an hour after the meeting began.
“When we heard the sound of rockets, we realized it was an assassination attempt,” he told Al-Jazeera. He added that about 12 missiles struck the area within a minute. The targeted leaders, experienced in enduring Israeli airstrikes, managed to escape quickly despite the intensity of the bombardment.
Hamad accused the United States of complicity, both in the destruction of Gaza and in the assassination attempt, stressing that Washington’s support enables Israel’s ethnic cleansing and genocidal war.
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He noted that Arab and Islamic capitals are now facing a direct threat: “What happened in Doha proves that Cairo, Riyadh, Baghdad, and Amman are not far from this US-backed Israeli madness.”
The Hamas official called the strikes in Doha a test of Arab and Islamic nations’ security and dignity, urging them to respond to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “arrogance.” Netanyahu “openly threatens every Arab capital, bombs Beirut and Damascus, and seeks to impose peace by force,” Hamad said.
Hamad also described dealings with US envoy Steve Witkoff as “bitter,” accusing Washington of dishonesty, broken promises, and shifting positions in line with Israeli demands.
He directly blamed US President Donald Trump for authorizing the assassination attempt, saying it happened just hours after the delegation submitted a proposal to him through Qatari mediators.
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Trump, he argued, not only failed to stop the strike on Qatari soil—“a US ally”—but has consistently armed Israel, fueled the war, and spoken of “opening the gates of hell on Gaza.”
“The United States has shown it is not a mediator but a partner in genocide,” Hamad concluded, stressing that Trump’s threats regarding Israeli prisoners would not dictate Hamas’ actions.
He said the movement operates within religious and legal frameworks, while Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment is what truly endangers the lives of prisoners.
This was Hamad’s first public statement since the Doha attack on September 9, which killed five Palestinians and a Qatari soldier.
(PC, AJA)
I am so relieved to hear from one of the Hamas leaders. Thank you, Palestine Chronicle, for bringing these news. We have not heard anything about how the rest of them are doing – the ones who survived. Did they get hurt? Are they in hospital? Can they live and feel any kind of safe in Doha again after this? I wait for the day when we will hear more about what happened, if every one of them is ok, and what will happen from here on. Israel has gone completely off the rails in Gaza, and the world’s nation leaders are insane if they still think that this is a country to be friends with.
The Hamas leader is not divulging much of the actual reality here, in blaming just Trump’s complicity. Almost all Western governments are actively supporting the holocaust, providing arms. All the Arabian Gulf states and Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon still have great trading partnerships with Israel. None have even expelled Israeli diplomats. However, they “condemn in the strongest terms” the Israeli aggression which is an act of war. Let Israel bomb Arab capitals and then hopefully they will understand with whom they should stand instead. Ordinary citizens will continue to pay the price. Palestinians have a right to armed resistance against a military occupation. That is the law.
Can somebody maybe elaborate on the thing that started all of this? The Hamas attack on a concert in Israel. I ask from complete ignorance. All I have is media knowledge. Why that attack happened, seems to be getting ignored. What is happening now is tragic and I grieve for the innocent families and children. But should Hamas not start apologising for all of this? rather than point fingers at others’. If they keep denying their own guilt in this, Israel is going to carry on. And then it turns into two dominant entities unwilling to back down. Two musk ox bulls facing off. Animalistic. There is millennia of conflict here to overcome. But the purpose of history is to learn from it.
Sadly this started at the Battle of Jericho thousands of years ago.