A top Hamas spokesman stormed out of a BBC interview after he was asked how the militant group justified killing Israeli families as they slept in their beds.
Approximately 1,400 Israelis were killed when Hamas militants launched their cross-border rampage on October 7, including up to 260 people who had attended the Nova Festival. Over 200 people were also taken hostage and remain inside Gaza.
Images have since emerged of blood-spattered rooms from Kibbutzim in Israel where civilians were killed as they took shelter in their homes.
In an interview with deputy foreign minister for Hamas in Gaza, Ghazi Hamad, the BBC's Middle East correspondent Hugo Bachega asked him how he justified the attack.
Hamad insisted that the Hamas leadership had given “no command to kill any civilians”.
When pressed on the fact that hundreds of civilians were killed during the so-called military operation, he said that “the area was very wide, there were many civilians there, and there were clashes and confrontations”.
Mr Bachega said it was not a confrontation when they invaded people's homes to which he replied: “I can tell you we didn't have any intention or decision to kill the civilians.”
The journalist continues, asking: “How do you justify killing people as they sleep?
“How do you justify killing hundreds of people?"
In response Hamad pulls off his microphone and declares: “I want to stop this interview."Earlier this month, one person from the Be'eri Kibbutz, Haim Jelin, told local media about the ordeal, saying: “They shot indiscriminately, abducted whoever they could, burned down people's homes so they'd have to escape through the window, where the terrorists would wait.”
Since Hamas militants launched their attack, Israel has conducted waves of airstrikes on Gaza.
Although Israel has insisted it is not targeting civilian areas, officials in Gaza have said up to 7,028 Palestinians, including 2,913 children, have been killed.
In one particular airstrike earlier this week, the wife, daughter and son of Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, were killed.
Meanwhile two US fighter jets struck weapons and ammunition dumps in Syria on Friday in retaliation for attacks on America forces by Iranian-backed militia as concerns grew that the Israel-Hamas conflict may escalate into a broader Middle East war.
