Asked about civilian deaths in Gaza, top Hamas official ends CNN interview
Osama Hamdan charges host Jim Sciutto looking at conflict through ‘Israeli eyes’ when pushed on whether terror group accepts responsibility for using Palestinians as human shields
Hamas politburo member Osama Hamdan abruptly ended a CNN interview Saturday after correspondent Jim Sciutto asked him if the terror group accepts responsibility for the deaths of Palestinian civilians due to its use of civilian infrastructure in the war sparked by its October 7 onslaught.
Before Hamdan shut down the conversation, Sciutto tried, unsuccessfully, to get the Doha-based representative to respond to quotes from Palestinians in Gaza blaming Hamas for the destruction there.
Hamdan accused Sciutto, who was reporting from Tel Aviv, of toeing Israel’s line on the war.
“Does Hamas today regret the October 7 terror attacks?” Sciutto asked.
“Well, it seems to me you are giving the Israelis the right to kill Palestinians when you ask if we feel regret for what Israel has done,” said Hamdan. “You have to understand that Israel has been killing the Palestinians for the last 76 years.”
When Sciutto said he had been covering the region for two decades, Hamdan charged that the American journalist had seen the conflict only through “Israeli eyes.”
I pressed senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan on whether Hamas accepts any responsibility for the loss of civilian life in Gaza, which residents have told CNN they believe it does. He wouldn’t answer and instead took me on a history lesson of events he didn’t know I witnessed… pic.twitter.com/L3UUzHrVPb
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) August 17, 2024
“You didn’t see the Israelis killing thousands of Palestinians in those 20 years,” he said, claiming Sciutto was ignorant of the thousands of Palestinians killed in the 2008 and 2014 wars in Gaza.
“Actually, I was here in 2014, and in 2008,” Sciutto replied, noting that CNN had covered Palestinian civilian deaths “quite closely.”
“What you’re saying is factually not true. I was here for both of those conflicts. My question is does Hamas accept any responsibility for the deaths of its own people in Gaza?” Sciutto said.
“You can’t ask and answer by yourself. Either you let me answer, or you can finish that talking point yourself,” said Hamdan.
During the interview, Hamdan also blamed Israel for the failure of the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Hamas fiercely opposed the peace process in the 1990s, launching a wave of deadly terror attacks during the period of Israel’s negotiations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Hamdan also accused Israel of seeking to expel all Palestinians and pointed to the hundreds killed since October 7 in the West Bank — where, he falsely asserted, Hamas has no presence.
The terror group regularly takes responsibility for attacks against Israelis in the West Bank. Hamas flags also frequently appear in rallies in the territory.
According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 630 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
The IDF says the vast majority of Palestinians killed in the West Bank during the war were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
In Gaza, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed throughout the war, according to the Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The toll, which cannot be independently verified, does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle as of August, and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
