Senior Hamas officials reportedly relocated to Turkey after being told to leave Qatar

The whereabouts of Hamas' senior leadership has been unclear since their longtime ally Qatar was reported to have asked them to leave. However, according to a report from Israel's public broadcaster Kan News on Sunday, they are currently in Turkey.

Earlier this month, following pressure from the United States, Qatar reportedly decided to expel top leaders of Hamas from its capital, Doha. According to Biden administration officials, this decision followed Hamas' execution of several hostages and its systematic rejection of all internationally brokered hostage deal proposals. Washington reportedly informed Qatar that Hamas’ continued presence in the Gulf state was “no longer viable or acceptable.”

“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner,” a senior Biden administration official told The Times of Israel on Nov. 9. There are approximately 13,000 American troops stationed at the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East.

The report on the whereabouts of the senior Hamas terrorists comes after an American source told KAN earlier this month that Qatar had agreed to U.S. demands to remove Hamas from its territory.

For years, Qatar has hosted Hamas' top political bureau (politburo) leaders, including Khaled Meshaal and the late Ismail Haniyeh, and is a major financial supporter of Hamas and its acts of terrorism.

The Hamas terrorist group has maintained close ties with Turkey for many years and indicated in April that it was considering relocating its main office there.

The close relations between Hamas and Turkey began with the Shalit deal in 2011, when over 1,000 terrorists, including Yahya Sinwar, were released from Israeli prisons in exchange for one IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit, who had been held captive in Gaza for five years. Many of the veteran terrorists who were exiled relocated to Turkey, which officially invited Hamas to open a political bureau there.

Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War and the break with the Assad regime in 2012, Hamas moved its politburo from Damascus, Syria to Qatar, however, its branch in Turkey gained further prominence, as Haniyeh and former Hamas deputy chief, Saleh al-Arouri, spent much of their time there.

In 2020, Turkey granted passports to approximately one dozen members of Hamas, including Haniyeh and Arouri. Turkey has never listed Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Earlier this year, in March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan affirmed his strong support for the terrorist organization.

“Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them,” Erdoğan said at the time.  “No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization.”

Last week, Erdoğan said Turkey had severed all ties with Israel, however, Jerusalem said it was unaware of such a move.