Hamas leadership leaves Doha for Turkey
Hamas’s senior leadership has relocated from Qatar to Turkey, Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster reported on Sunday evening.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (left) and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan meet in Istanbul, April 20, 2024. Source: Turkish Presidency/X.
The report cited unnamed Israeli sources as confirming the move, which was said to have taken place in “recent days.”
According to the broadcaster, the development could have “dramatic” consequences for the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, which have been mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
Earlier this month, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry claimed that media reports that the Gulf state had withdrawn from its mediation role and closed the terrorist group’s Doha offices were inaccurate.
“The State of Qatar notified the parties 10 days ago, during the last attempts to reach an agreement, that it would stall its efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel if an agreement was not reached in that round,” said ministry spokesman Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari.
“Qatar will resume those efforts with its partners when the parties show their willingness and seriousness to end the brutal war and the ongoing suffering of civilians caused by catastrophic humanitarian conditions in the Strip,” he said. “Qatar will then be at the forefront of making every good effort to end the war and return the hostages and prisoners.”
Al-Ansari stressed that the reporting about “the Hamas office in Doha is inaccurate,” declaring that “the main goal of the office in Qatar is to be a channel of communication between the concerned parties.”
A senior U.S. official told Reuters on Nov. 8 that Hamas leaders “should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner,” after the terror organization rejected repeated proposals to release the hostages.
“We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal,” the official said, according to Reuters.
On Sunday, the Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed outlet cited a Hamas source as saying that the terror group has refused to provide information on the whereabouts and status of the hostages, in particular those with U.S. citizenship, as it has not been offered “compensation” by mediators.
According to the source, the Biden administration put “intense pressure” on Qatar and Egypt in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election in an attempt to receive proofs of life.
However, Hamas said it refused the request because the Americans failed to provide “any serious indications about stopping the aggression or reaching an agreement to stop the war of extermination in the Strip.”
Meanwhile, the Turkish government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long harbored Hamas. In 2022, the terror group marked the 10th anniversary of the official establishment of its offices in Istanbul.
According to a 2021 report by The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, Hamas’s headquarters in Istanbul has directed hundreds of terrorist attacks against Israelis and laundered millions of dollars.
“Turkey collaborates with terror organizations on both the ideological and operational levels. Terrorists working on Turkish soil establish infrastructures and plan terror attacks against Israel,” the report stated.
In April, Ankara invited Ismail Haniyeh, then the head of Hamas’s political bureau in Doha, to stay in the country, praising the top terrorist as a “leader of the Palestinian struggle.”
Haniyeh was killed in Tehran in July.
Erdoğan has become more hostile toward Israel and closer to Hamas since the terrorist group’s assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
In May, Erdoğan called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “vampire who feeds on blood,” urging Muslims to fight the Jewish state.
Two months later, Erdoğan told Newsweek that Palestinian terrorists from Gaza were “simply defending their homes, streets and homeland.”
Turkey, a NATO member, has also been blocking all partnerships or advancement of Israeli involvement with the global military alliance, Reuters reported in August, citing anonymous sources.
JNS
