Senior Hamas official in Lebanon on Oct. 7 attack
In a sit-down interview with ABC News in Beirut on Saturday, Osama Hamdan, a senior official with Hamas in Lebanon, said the goal of the Oct. 7 attack was to show Israel and the world that the "Palestinian cause is still alive."
He said he believes that the operation has worked to that end.
"The United States start to talk about the rights of the Palestinians. All the world starts to talk about the rights of the Palestinians," he said.
Despite eyewitness accounts, news reports and video evidence, Hamdan denied that Hamas killed innocent people at a music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7 or that they took civilian hostages from Israel. Hamdan claimed that Hamas militants only took military "prisoners," and that civilian hostages were taken by other groups. He said Hamas is willing to release hostages -- but only if Israel agrees to a cease-fire.
More than 260 bodies were recovered from the musical festival following the attack, Israeli officials said. At least 1,200 people total were killed in Israel and nearly 240 people were taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack, Israeli officials said.
Asked if Hamas bears any responsibility for the deaths of thousands of innocent Palestinians, Hamdan said "it may take more sacrifices" but that more lives could be saved "by forcing Israel to recognize the rights of the Palestinians, to leave the occupied lands" and to let Palestinians determine their future.
-ABC News' Bruno Roeber, Ghazi Balkiz and Marcus Moore