Hamas senior leader describes 'loud explosions' before he fled Israeli strike in Qatar

In his first appearance after the Israeli assassination attempt on Hamas political leaders in Qatar, senior representative Ghazi Hamad told Aljazeera on Wednesday that he and his colleagues were able to "escape quickly" upon hearing the first sounds of "loud explosions" in the area, which they identified as Israeli shelling.

"We were in a meeting - the negotiating delegation and some advisers - and less than an hour after we began reviewing the American [ceasefire] proposal we received, we heard the sound of loud explosions. We immediately left the scene because we knew from the start that the explosions were Israeli shelling," Hamad said.

"We were able to escape quickly. The shelling was intense, the situation was terrifying, and the rockets continued unabated. There were about 12 rockets in less than a minute, but God decreed that we survive this aggression," he said.