Qatar’s PM Calls October 7 a Massacre. On the Day Itself, Doha Blamed Israel for the Escalation

Qatar’s prime minister says October 7 was a massacre and those responsible should be held accountable. His government’s statement issued that day did not name Hamas. It did identify one party as solely responsible for the escalation: Israel.

Speaking to Piers Morgan in an interview published September 29, 2026, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani described October 7 as “a massacre” that “should be condemned” and called for accountability. He did not explicitly name Hamas in that sentence.

Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) highlighted the contrast on X, placing the interview clip alongside Qatar’s October 7 declaration.

The document requires no leaked correspondence or anonymous sourcing. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry still publishes it on its own website.

A statement with one party to blame

Dated October 7, 2023, the declaration began with concern over developments in Gaza and an appeal for all parties to exercise restraint.

Then came the assignment of responsibility.

The ministry said it “holds Israel solely responsible for the ongoing escalation,” citing alleged violations of Palestinian rights and incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque under Israeli police protection.

Its attention then turned to what might happen next: international intervention was needed, it argued, to prevent the events from becoming a justification for another war against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

What Hamas had done received no corresponding condemnation. The statement mentioned neither the murdered Israeli civilians nor the hostages taken into Gaza. Its accusation concerned the broader escalation, and within that framing, responsibility was assigned exclusively to Israel.

Qatar had already gone further before this interview

The comparison becomes less straightforward when the intervening record is included.

Six days after the attack, standing alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Al Thani condemned the targeting of civilians. The language was general, without singling out Hamas’s attack.

By July 2025, Qatar had backed wording that left considerably less room for interpretation.

The New York Declaration, which listed Qatar among its working-group co-chairs, stated: “We condemn the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians on the 7th of October.”

That document also demanded the release of all hostages and called for Hamas to relinquish power in Gaza and hand its weapons to the Palestinian Authority. It separately condemned Israeli actions against Palestinian civilians.

The Morgan interview therefore cannot accurately be presented as Qatar finally condemning the attack for the first time. Doha had already endorsed an explicit condemnation naming Hamas, more than a year earlier.

Condemnation alongside a defense of Qatar’s Hamas ties

Al Thani also used the interview to defend the relationship that keeps Doha at the center of arguments about Hamas.

According to The Jerusalem Post’s account, he said Qatar’s engagement with the group originated at Washington’s request. He described a $30 million monthly Gaza assistance program as coordinated with Israel, the United States and the United Nations, and denied that it financed Hamas’s military wing.

Those were his explanations of the arrangements. The approval mechanisms he described do not, by themselves, establish that Hamas derived no indirect benefit from the assistance.

His call for accountability now sits within that wider defense of Qatar’s role. It also sits alongside a written record that later statements cannot alter.

On the day Hamas attacked Israel, Doha appealed for restraint, warned about the consequences for Gaza and assigned Israel sole responsibility for the escalation. A condemnation of Hamas was absent.

The statement remains online, under its original date: October 7, 2023.