Palestinian Authority embrace of October 7 atrocities: 2023-2026

Introduction

The Palestinian Authority had four stages of response to the October 7 Hamas atrocities that evolved from 2023 through 2026:

1. Celebration and ecstasy;

2. Justification as self-defense and legal under international law, as sanctioned by Islam, and as necessitating even more attacks

3. Condemning Hamas ONLY for the destruction of Gaza and deaths of Gazans;

4. Transferring the blame: Israel was behind October 7th or allowed it so that it could destroy Gaza and commit genocide;

5. Appendix: PA school celebration of October 7.

The Palestinian Authority's immediate response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and atrocities in southern Israel was joy and even ecstasy, which reflected its longstanding policy of embracing and honoring every Palestinian terrorist murderer of Israelis. PA leader Jibril Rajoub hailed the October 7 rapes, beheadings, and burning people alive as "heroic" and "epic." Mahmoud Abbas' senior advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, labeled the Oct. 7 atrocities as "self-defense" and "legitimate resistance." A Fatah official told PA TV that Oct. 7 was: "A morning of joy, a morning of pride." PA school assemblies celebrated October 7—schoolchild: "Oh, you [Hamas fighters] crowns upon our heads… Blessings upon you for this victory."

This official PA enthusiastic embrace of Oct. 7 mirrored the Palestinian population. In December 2023, two months after Hamas' atrocities, 83% of West Bank Palestinians said that Hamas' attack on Israel was the "correct decision." Two years later, in Oct. 2025, despite PA claims that 70,000 Palestinians had died, 59% in the West Bank still thought that the Oct. 7 terror attack was the "correct decision" [Palestinian Center for Survey Research]. The Palestinian population, guided by its PA leaders, enthusiastically embraces terrorism against Jews and Israelis. The Oct. 7 atrocities, even at the cost of 70,000 dead Palestinians, was the "correct decision."

The official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, published an interview with Abbas on June 1, 2025 in which he said that the Oct. 7 "attack shook the foundations of the Israeli entity… exposed the claims… of an invincible [Israel] army…" Abbas only criticized Hamas because it led to the destruction of Gaza and because it was "more damaging" than Hamas' "important goals."

As this report documents, the Palestinian Authority sees and presents the Oct. 7 atrocities, including rape, torture, beheadings, burning families alive, and the murder of 1,200, as a heroic, legitimate, legal act of self-defense against Israel. This message was passed on from the leadership to the people and even to the children in PA schools.

Before anyone can talk about a "reformed" Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas must publicly, in his own voice, condemn the Oct. 7 atrocities and remove from positions of influence and political power all the people who glorified an/or defended the atrocities.

Moreover, the countries and world leaders, such as President Macron of France, that decided to recognize a Palestinian state based on the lie that Abbas had condemned the Oct. 7 attack must immediately freeze their recognition until the PA changes its messages and publicly condemns the Oct. 7 atrocities.  A failure to do so is explicit acceptance of the PA as a legitimate entity, even though it supports committing the most horrific atrocities to promote its political agendas. To accept the PA that glorifies Oct. 7 is a mark of shame on all those countries that chose to recognize the PA as worthy of statehood. 

The following are examples of the Palestinian Authority responses to Oct. 7 atrocities as they evolved from Oct 7, 2023 until Oct. 7, 2026:

1. Celebration and ecstasy

Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: "Oct. 7 was… full of epics and acts of heroism."

[Al-Anba, Kuwaiti news website, Nov. 26, 2023]

Fatah Jenin branch member Abd Al-Rahman Abu Al-Rub: "A morning of victory, and morning of joy, a morning of pride. We ask Allah to send a blessing to our heroic Martyrs in the Gaza Strip… We in the Fatah Movement in the Jenin district convey the message to all our brothers and to all our Palestinian people that they are compelled to take action and participate in this story of heroism."

[Official PA TV, Oct. 8, 2023]

Former PA Ministry of Information and Yasser Arafat Foundation employee journalist Hani Al-Masri: "I'll tell you something that not many know. It is said that even [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas] said it was the greatest day in the history of the Palestinian people, and he said this in front of dozens of people, not just one or two."

[Qatari journalist Ahmad Biqawi, YouTube channel, Dec. 12, 2025]

"Fatah is participating in defending our people everywhere, and we emphasize to the Fatah members in particular and to all our people that we must strengthen the cohesion in this heroic battle."

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 7, 2023]

Image in video posted by Fatah portraying Israelis as a rat being trampled by a boot with the colors of the Palestinian flag on its sole:

[Fatah Movement – Bethlehem Branch, Telegram channel, Oct. 8, 2023]

Fatah Tubas branch member Ghassan Daraghmeh: "Long live our Palestinian people, since yesterday [we are] rising up and there is a state of great joy… We say to the Zionist enemy that you and your army that was called 'an undefeatable army:' Here,it has been proven that it is weaker than cobwebs."         

[Official PA TV, Oct. 8, 2023]

Posted text: "We in the student council, the student union, and the [Fatah] Shabiba Student Movement at Palestine Polytechnic University, Martyr Salah Khalaf sub-branch, welcome the heroic operation that the free heroes of the resistance carried out today, which comes as a natural response to the massacres that this cruel occupation is committing against our Palestinian people."

[The Student Union Council and Fatah Shabiba Student Movement at Palestine Polytechnic University, Facebook page, Oct. 7, 2023]

Posted text: "On the ground we stand as one, each one is defending from their stronghold, and there is no difference between two people who are defending the same homeland. May the men's forearms be blessed, and may the result be blessed."

[Fatah Shabiba Student Movement at An-Najah National University, Twitter account, Oct. 7, 2023]

2. Justification as self-defense and legal under international law, as sanctioned by Islam, and as necessitating even more attacks

"[PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas] instructed to provide defense to our people, and he emphasized the Palestinian people's right to self-defense facing the terror of the settlers and the occupation forces."

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 7, 2023]

PA PM Muhammad Shtayyeh: "In a meeting held on Oct. 7, we [the PA] issued a statement, and one sentence was added to the statement: ‘The Palestinian people has the right to defend itself.'"

[Al-Arabiya TV, YouTube channel, July 29, 2025]

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "We are enacting our legitimate right in resisting these invaders by defending ourselves, and defending our holy sites and our people… This occupation is temporary. Regardless of how long it takes, and regardless of how many sacrifices there will be, this occupation will leave sooner or later… We are engaging in defending ourselves."

[Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs, Official PA TV, Oct. 8, 2023]

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "What Hamas carried out on Oct. 7, I start from the assumption that resistance is legitimate. We agreed from the start that the resistance is legitimate, and no one can dispute the legitimacy of the resistance... What happened on Oct. 7 is a legitimate thing, okay? It's legitimate." 

[Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs, YouTube channel, March 11, 2025]

"When we come to judge Oct. 7, resistance to the occupation in itself is a legal, even sacred thing. You will not find any Palestinian, Muslim, or even a normal person who can dispute this principle… When looking at Oct. 7, resistance to the occupation is legal, and action against the occupation is legal, and no one can discuss, dispute, or oppose this issue."  

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs YouTube channel, April 29, 2026]

"[PA PM] Shtayyeh emphasized the Palestinian people's right to defend its land and its holy sites, which are always being violated [by Israel]. Shtayyeh said that what is happening today is a natural result of not acceding to our recurring warning against the severe consequences of Israel's continued crimes, while it feels that it can evade punishment."

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 7, 2023] 

"The Fatah Movement called on the masses of our people to hold a general strike tomorrow, Sunday [Oct. 8, 2023], and to escalate the confrontation in all arenas in order to defend our people and our right to freedom, a state, and independence."

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 7, 2023]

"Fatah Movement Deputy Chairman [and Fatah Central Committee member] Mahmoud Al-Aloul emphasized that we must unite our positions to fight the aggression against us by the Israeli occupation. Al-Aloul explained that from the first moment everyone's responses were united: This explosion (i.e., the Hamas terror war) is nothing but a natural response... and this is also the position of the Palestinian [PA] leadership."

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 10, 2023]

"Fatah calls on the masses of our people to declare tomorrow, Sunday, as a day of general strike and intensifying the confrontation in all arenas of confrontation with the occupation, in order to defend our people and our sacred right to freedom, a state, and independence. Glory to the Martyrs, healing to the wounded, and victory to our mighty Palestinian people."

[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, Oct. 7, 2023]

"May the coming days not just be days of strike but also burning days of rage as a sign of support for the Gaza Strip that is defeating the enemies, with the giants whom late Martyr [former PLO and PA Chairman] Yasser Arafat relied on and who were reliable."

[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, Oct. 9, 2023]

Guidelines for mosque preachers as posted by PA on Oct, 18, 2023, by the PA Ministry of Religious Affairs, indicated that, according to the PA religious leaders, the Hamas attack was part of Islamic destiny to kill Jews. All preachers were required to teach this Hadith, just 13 days after the atrocities:

"The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, and the rock or a tree will say: 'Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him;' except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews."

[PA Ministry of Religious Affairs, Facebook page, Oct. 18, 2023]

Following so close to the atrocities by Hamas, this PA religious message to Palestinians is first and foremost elevating the horrific massacre of nearly 1,200 Jews to constitute Islamic worship. In addition, it is a message that Allah/Islam wants Palestinians to leave their mosques after Friday prayers and set out to murder more Jews.

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "We will not leave Palestine. We will remain there as the olive tree remains… and they (i.e., the Israelis) will leave. They will leave… I bless you… [those] who are carrying out Jihad for it on the path of Allah, and standing with bare chests, with unshakable faith, and with complete confidence in Almighty Allah…Palestine is not just a cause of land and borders and a political cause. Palestine is a religious cause and a cause of faith... Would we abandon the legacy of Allah's Messenger [Muhammad]?"

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Oct. 18, 2023]

3. Condemning Hamas ONLY for the destruction of Gaza and deaths of Gazans

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "As important as the goals that Hamas attempted to achieve through this attack may have been, they are not comparable to the damages and heavy losses that the Gaza Strip residents… have suffered"

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 1, 2025]

Fatah Spokesman in the Gaza Strip Mundhir Al-Hayek: "I described the Hamas leadership as failing, especially after Oct. 7... I'm not talking about the operation itself (i.e., the massacre), rather about what happened after October 7... It was possible to accept any proposal [from the Israelis] in the first six months [of the war]… The Gaza Strip before Oct. 7 was a paradise."

[Radio Mawtini (Fatah radio station), Facebook page, Jan. 6, 2026]

Tulkarem District Governor and Fatah Revolutionary Council member Abdallah Kmeil: "If it [Hamas] were bringing about the achievement of the national goals and goals that Hamas has declared, we would support it, even if another 50,000 Palestinians would die as Martyrs. If the result of all this was liberation from the burden of the occupation (i.e., Israel), it would be fine."

[Official PA TV, Facebook page, July 19, 2025]

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "On Oct. 7, [2023,] everyone praised [it] and cheered as if we had liberated Jerusalem, [but] things are not achieved this way. Things are judged by their results and consequences… Oct. 7 was a disaster for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause – in terms of results. Emotionally… it stirred the emotions of all of us. That is something else. But in terms of consequences, the political results, and the realistic considerations, no, it was a disaster."

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, July 5, 2025]

4. Transferring the blame: Israel was behind or allowed October 7th so that it could destroy Gaza and commit genocide

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "The Israeli occupation wanted what happened on Oct. 7, [2023] (i.e., Hamas' massacre and launch of terror war). It completely wanted this and perhaps even strived for it, because it wanted the result. It wants to eliminate the Palestinian cause and put an end to the Palestinian existence through expulsion, killing, and reoccupation."

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, Aug. 15, 2025]

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "When we want to know who is behind something, we need to see who benefited from it. Who benefited here? Before Oct. 7 (i.e., Hamas' war against Israel), [Israeli PM] Netanyahu was taking his last breaths...and Israel was boiling inside like a cauldron. Then Oct. 7 came to give Netanyahu breathing space and to reunite the Israeli arena against the entire Palestinian people."

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, Oct. 7, 2025]

Jibril Rajoub: "The Israeli government is the only one responsible for what's going on, for the suffering, whether for the Palestinians or some Israeli civilians who were killed on Oct. 7."

[Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, Facebook page, Aug. 2, 2025]

Al-Azhar University – Gaza international relations lecturer Jamal Al-Fadi: "Israel exploited this event (i.e., Hamas' Oct. 7 war), and perhaps used it, and perhaps covertly participated in its creation, in an attempt once again to eliminate Palestinian achievements."

[Official PA TV, Capital of Capitals – Cairo, Nov. 10, 2025]

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "Perhaps the coming days will reveal this issue, which is now being talked about in Israel by the media outlets and Israeli commentators regarding the role of Netanyahu's government in the events of Oct. 7. Perhaps it prepared the conditions and led Hamas to this issue, because it had a plan that it wanted to carry out in the Gaza Strip using what happened on Oct. 7 as an excuse… perhaps it used Hamas on this issue. Hamas may have even assisted, in one way or another, this Israeli objective."

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, April 21, 2025]

Appendix: PA school celebration of Oct. 7

Reflecting the PA support and joy over Oct. 7, PA schools held activities and assemblies to celebrate the death and destruction in Israel, which they posted on their Facebook pages. The following are some of these examples: 

PA schoolgirl: "That day went down in history... We woke up to the sounds of laughter. There are those among us who thought he was dreaming, but it is a beautiful dream that he never wants to wake up from... On Saturday [October 7], the people who resist returned to their land ... It was impossible to express the emotions in our hearts, and we never imagined such pride in our people on our faces. The sense of honor that we felt is indescribable."

[Kharas Girls' Elementary School, Facebook, Oct. 12, 2023]

PA schoolgirl: "October, month of blood, you have arrived, welcome.
October, do not leave easily.
October, teach them a lesson to be delivered by teachers of revenge; justice has witnesses.
We came to you (i.e., Israel) in multitudes,
Open your door, we are death.
We will let you taste eternity in fire [of hell]."

[Shweikeh Mixed Elementary School, Facebook, Nov. 5, 2023]

PA schoolgirl: "Allahu Akbar! This is the [Al-Aqsa] Flood. Long live the lions [of Hamas] and down with tyranny. Today, we raid them [Israelis], and they don't raid us. Nothing will stop [us] if faith calls... We long for Martyrdom, and our enemy fears the encounter. He is surrounded by walls. They [Israelis] pretend to be brave, but when they see the faces of the lions – they are all rats."

[Askelan Mixed Elementary School, Facebook, Oct. 16, 2023]

PA schoolboy Riyan Yusef Malkiya: "Last Saturday morning, the Flood of Palestinian Resistance toward our occupied lands began (i.e., Hamas' Oct. 7 attack), and our Resistance succeeded in igniting a dream of more than 75 years through the return to our occupied lands by force. October 7 will be a date that historians will mark in the coming years, and it is a historic day that brought us joy and restored our hope for liberation and independence."

[Sinjil Boys' High School, Facebook, Oct. 11, 2023]

PA schoolgirl: "Good morning, Gaza, a morning of victory, Gaza, a morning of glory and fame, a morning of heroic martyrs, a morning of child martyrs.
Good morning, oh people of the Resistance (Hamas), as you play the anthem of victory with bullets and rifles.
Good morning, O you who stand guard like lions in tunnels and trenches,
Good morning, O men of heroism, O men of power."

[Palestine Girls Elementary School, Facebook, Nov. 13, 2023]

Conclusions

In the Palestinian Authority's twisted narrative, the horrors committed on Oct. 7—the rape, torture, beheadings, families burned alive, and the slaughter of 1,200 people—constituted a heroic and lawful exercise of self-defense against Israel. The PA's leaders spread this justification throughout Palestinian society, allowing it to reach even children in PA schools.

There can be no credible discussion of a "reformed" PA until Mahmoud Abbas personally and unequivocally condemns the Oct. 7 atrocities in public and dismisses every official and influential figure who praised or justified them.

Countries and leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron, whose recognition of a Palestinian state rested on the false assertion that Abbas had condemned the attack, must suspend that recognition until the PA repudiates its current messaging and publicly denounces the atrocities. Refusing to do so amounts to granting legitimacy to an authority that endorses horrific violence as a means of advancing its political objectives. Any country that recognizes an Oct. 7-glorifying PA as deserving of statehood bears a lasting mark of shame.