They could not state a single fact to back up that assertion, but they repeated it in a editorial a couple of days later.
Hamas, meanwhile, must not be reading the New York Times, because they are saying something a bit different - to Iran:
New Hamas representative to Tehran told in an inaugural interview that the ultimate goal of the movement was to free the entire Palestinian land, destroy the Zionist regime and rescue the revered Quds from the claws of the Zionists.But who are you going to trust - the NYT's wishful thinking interpretation of Hamas' words in English, or what they actually say explicitly in Arabic and Farsi?
Khaled al-Qoddoumi said Hamas would not pay any attention to the negative propaganda of the western media that Hamas should or would withdraw from the path of resistance.
The senior Hamas member refuted any option of compromise with Israel and underlined resistance as the only way of struggling with the occupiers and restoring the rights of the Palestinian nation. He predicted that one day, the Quds would return to the lap of the world of Islam.
Asked whether the Palestinian nation considers the option of compromise with Israel as legitimate, he said the Palestinian nation sees no reason to approve the option as it sees compromise as a futile and useless way. “The Israeli side has never sought peace. They have no belief in living alongside the Palestinian nation or other Muslim nations. The Zionist regime is a cancer and cancer must be uprooted,” he said.
Obviously the New York Times knows more about Hamas than Hamas does!