Hamas, the entity who as of 2023 had been the governing authority of the Gaza Strip, has foreign relations that spans various countries around the world. As of 2023, Mousa Abu Marzook is the group's head of international relations office. [1]
Egypt under Mohamed Morsi who was in power from 2011 to 2013, supported Hamas. [2]
Hamas sent an official delegation to South Africa for the 10th anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela, joining African National Congress minister Lindiwe Zulu at a wreath-laying event on 5 December 2023. [3]
Sudan under President Omar al-Bashir was a major supporter and provided Hamas its rockets. [4]
Cuba allegedly provides intelligence support to Hamas. [5] [6] [7]
The relations between Venezuela and Hamas have become more close under the presidencies of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, due to the common opposition to the US. [8] [9]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2024) |
The Hamas organization has a permanent and established presence in Lebanon. [10] [11] The presence gained prominence following the announcement of the formation of the Al-Aqsa Flood Vanguards unit by Hamas in Beirut in 2023. [12]
According to Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Leader Gebran Bassil, Hamas's establishment in Lebanon raised concerns about Lebanon's sovereignty and stability. [13] [14] [15]The Islamic Republic of Iran is a key patron of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2006. Iran provides Hamas with funds, weapons, and training. [16] [17] [18]
According to a 2020 U.S. State Department report, Iran provides about $100 million annually to Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas. [19] As of 2023, according to an Israeli security source, Iran had significantly increased its funding for Hamas to $350 million a year. [20]Islamists appeared to be more interested in studying the Quran than fighting Israel when Israel first came into contact with them in Gaza in the 1970s and 1980s. Mujama al-Islamiya, a forerunner of Hamas, was recognized by the Israeli authorities and registered as a charity. Members of the Mujama were able to establish an Islamic university as well as mosques, clubs, and schools. Importantly, Israel frequently took a back seat to the Islamists' sometimes deadly power struggles with their secular, left-wing Palestinian counterparts in Gaza and the West Bank. David Hacham, an Israeli military Arab relations specialist who operated in Gaza in the late 1980s and early 1990s, says, "When I look back at the chain of events, I think we made a mistake." However, none at the time considered the outcomes that might occur." On the extent to which their own actions may have helped to Hamas's rise, Israeli officials who served in Gaza disagree. They attribute the recent growth of the group to outside forces, mainly Iran. The Israeli government holds the same opinion. [21] [22]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2024) |
Qatar has been a key financial supporter of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, transferring more than $1.8 billion to Hamas over the years. [23] [24] In consultation with the U.S. and Israeli governments, $30 million were transferred monthly to Hamas, according to a Qatari official interviewed by Der Spiegel in 2023. [25]
The United States requested in 2011 that Qatar provide a base for the Hamas leadership to ease communications with the group. [25] From 2012, Qatar hosted the Hamas party leadership when Hamas head Khaled Meshal relocated from Syria to Qatar. [26] The current head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has resided in Doha since 2016. [27] Qatar has been called Hamas' most important financial backer and foreign ally. [28] [29]
From 2018 to 2023, Israel's government enabled and approved of the Qatari support for Hamas for political reasons. [30]
In May 2024, it was reported that the United States had urged Qatar to remove Hamas leaders from its territory if they declined to agree to a hostage deal with Israel. [31] [32] Later, it was reported that Qatar is reviewing the future of Hamas' office in Doha as part of a broader evaluation of its role as a mediator in the Israel–Hamas war. [33]This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2024) |
The Syrian Arab Republic was a staunch supporter of Hamas until 2011 with the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. In January 2012, Hamas sided with the Syrian rebels against the government Bashar al-Assad. [34] Since 2022, relations have been restored and the support was renewed. [35] Since 2022, Hamas is again part of the regional Axis of Resistance. [36] [37]
As part of Turkey's objective to play a mediating role in the region, the country tries to be on speaking terms with both Israel and Hamas. [38] [39] From time to time, Israel has suggested Turkey to support Hamas, [40] [41] while in other cases it has opposed the support. [42]
Under the conservative leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey has become a stalwart supporter of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. [43] [44]
Unlike Israel, Turkey has never listed Hamas as a terrorist organistion. In 2010, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described Hamas as "resistance fighters who are struggling to defend their land". [45] [46] Turkey hosts senior Hamas officials, including Saleh al-Arouri. Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh and former chief Khaled Meshal visit Turkey often. [47] [48] [49]
According to Israel's Shin Bet, Hamas has established a command post in Turkey. which it uses to recruit operatives and oversee operations in the Middle East. [50] Hamas' Turkey branch reportedly takes decisions without taking into account the movement as a whole and without involving the Hamas leadership. [51] [52] Hamas has reportedly planned attacks against Israel from Turkey, including the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in 2014. [53] In 2020 Israeli diplomats charged Turkey with furnishing passports and identity cards to Hamas members in Istanbul. [54]
The Turkish government met with Hamas leaders in February 2006, after the organization's victory in the Palestinian elections. [55]Hamas, an acronym of its official name, Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist political and military movement governing the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip since 2007.
The State of Israel and the Republic of Turkey formally established diplomatic relations in March 1949. Less than a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Turkey recognized Israeli sovereignty, making it the world's first Muslim-majority country to do so. Both countries gave high priority to bilateral cooperation in the areas of diplomacy and military/strategic ties, while sharing concerns with respect to the regional instabilities in the Middle East. In recent decades, particularly under Turkey's Erdoğan administration, the two countries' relationship with each other has deteriorated considerably. However, diplomatic ties were reinstated after a successful normalization initiative in mid-2022.
The Arab–Israeli conflict is the phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between various Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century. The roots of the Arab–Israeli conflict have been attributed to the support by Arab League member countries for the Palestinians, a fellow League member, in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict; this in turn has been attributed to the simultaneous rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism towards the end of the 19th century, though the two national movements had not clashed until the 1920s.
The Gaza–Israel conflict is a localized part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict beginning in 1948, when 200,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes, settling in the Gaza Strip as refugees. Since then, Israel has fought 15 wars against the Gaza Strip. The number of Gazans reportedly killed in the most recent 2023 war — 34,000 — is higher than the death toll of all other wars of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Qatar established unofficial trade relations with the State of Israel in 1996, the first amongst all nations of the Arabian Peninsula after Oman reportedly did, concurrently with Israel–Jordan peace treaty. Until 2009, Qatar and Israel maintained trade relations, but due to Operation Cast Lead, Qatar broke the trade with Israel.
The Mujama' al-Islami is an Islamic charity founded in 1973 in Gaza by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who had been involved with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's Palestinian branch. Mujama started to offer clinics, blood banks, day care, medical treatment, meals and youth clubs. Mujama plays an important role for providing social care to the people, particularly those living in refugee camps. It also extended financial aid and scholarships to young people who wanted to study in Saudi Arabia and the West.
Capital punishment is legal in most countries of the Middle East. Much of the motivation for the retention of the death penalty has been religious in nature, as the Qur'an allows or mandates executions for various offences.
The State of Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have never had formal diplomatic relations. In 1947, Saudi Arabia voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, and currently does not recognize Israeli sovereignty. However, as of 2023, bilateral negotiations towards Israeli–Saudi normalization are ongoing, with the United States serving as the two sides' mediator.
The Axis of Resistance is an informal Iranian-led political and military coalition in West Asia and North Africa. It most notably includes,Islamic Resistance in Iraq, the Syrian government, the Lebanese political party and militant group Hezbollah, the Yemeni political and military organization Ansar Allah, and a variety of Palestinian militant groups. The various actions of members of this axis reflect their domestic interests while serving the broader goal of complicating Israel's attacks and imposing a cost on the United States to support Israel. The axis became the main fighters against ISIS, after the group took over Syria and Iraq in 2014.
Abd el-Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian military in 2014, Sisi served as Egypt's deputy prime minister from 2013 to 2014, minister of defense from 2012 to 2013, and director of military intelligence from 2010 to 2012. He was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in January 2014.
The Iran–Israel proxy conflict, also known as the Iran–Israel proxy war or Iran–Israel Cold War, is an ongoing proxy conflict between Iran and Israel. In the Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Iran has supported Lebanese Shia militias, most notably Hezbollah. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran has backed Palestinian groups such as Hamas. Israel has supported Iranian rebels, such as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, conducted airstrikes against Iranian allies in Syria and assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists. In 2018 Israeli forces directly attacked Iranian forces in Syria.
Ismail Haniyeh is a Palestinian politician who is seen as the overall political leader of Hamas, the de facto ruling entity of the Gaza Strip. He is the current chairman of Hamas’s political bureau; as of 2023, Haniyeh lives in Qatar.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is an Iranian politician, diplomat and current foreign minister of Iran. He was formerly the deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs from 2011 to 2016.
Saleh Muhammad Sulayman al-Arouri was a senior leader of Hamas and a founding commander of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He was also said to be the deputy chairman of Hamas's political bureau, and Hamas's military commander of the West Bank, although he lived in Lebanon at the time of his assassination.
The Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomatic conflict refers to the ongoing struggle for regional influence between Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), both of which are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It is sometimes called the New Arab Cold War. Bilateral relations have been especially strained since the beginning of the Arab Spring, that left a power vacuum both states sought to fill, with Qatar being supportive of the revolutionary wave and Saudi Arabia opposing it. Both states are allies of the United States, and have avoided direct conflict with one another.
Qatar has been a key financial supporter of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, transferring more than $1.8 billion to Hamas over the years. In consultation with the U.S. and Israeli governments, $30 million were transferred monthly to Hamas, according to a Qatari official interviewed by Der Spiegel in 2023.
As part of Turkey's objective to play a mediating role in the region, the country tries to be on speaking terms with both Israel and Hamas. From time to time, Israel has suggested Turkey to support Hamas, while in other cases it has opposed the support.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a key patron of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2006. Iran provides Hamas with funds, weapons, and training.
Palestine–Qatar relations refer to foreign relations between Qatar and the State of Palestine. The State of Palestine has an embassy in Doha, Qatar. Munir Abdullah Ghannam is the ambassador of Palestine to Qatar. Mohamed Al-Emadi is the ambassador of Qatar to Palestine.
The Hamas organization has a permanent and established presence in Lebanon. The presence gained prominence following the announcement of the formation of the Al-Aqsa Flood Vanguards unit by Hamas in Beirut in 2023.
When Israel first encountered Islamists in Gaza in the 1970s and '80s, they seemed focused on studying the Quran, not on confrontation with Israel. The Israeli government officially recognized a precursor to Hamas called Mujama Al-Islamiya, registering the group as a charity. It allowed Mujama members to set up an Islamic university and build mosques, clubs and schools. Crucially, Israel often stood aside when the Islamists and their secular left-wing Palestinian rivals battled, sometimes violently, for influence in both Gaza and the West Bank. "When I look back at the chain of events I think we made a mistake," says David Hacham, who worked in Gaza in the late 1980s and early '90s as an Arab-affairs expert in the Israeli military. "But at the time nobody thought about the possible results." Israeli officials who served in Gaza disagree on how much their own actions may have contributed to the rise of Hamas. They blame the group's recent ascent on outsiders, primarily Iran. This view is shared by the Israeli government. "Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and through the provision of advanced weapons," Mr. Olmert said last Saturday. Hamas has denied receiving military assistance from Iran.