Senior Hamas officials held a secret meeting in Turkey last week to discuss their strategy in the ongoing conflict with Israel, The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday, citing Israel’s national broadcaster KAN.
Turkey, which does not recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization, has long been known to be a safe haven for the group’s leaders.
The meeting was chaired by Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chairman of the political bureau of Hamas and the founding commander of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military, who participated from his residence in Beirut; former Hamas chief Khaled Mashal, who lives in the Qatari capital of Doha; and several other senior Hamas officials, according to KAN.
The Hamas leadership chose to hold their meeting in a third country to allow everyone to speak together in a secure environment and to prevent Israeli intelligence from intercepting it, KAN said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been among the world’s most outspoken leaders against Israel since the war began on October 7, when Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented attack in Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking at least 250 others hostage.
Israel has retaliated against Hamas’s October 7 attack by pounding Gaza, leading to more than 19,000 casualties so far and causing devastation in the enclave.
Erdoğan frequently meets with Hamas members in public in Turkey and sees them as “liberators” fighting for their land rather than terrorists.
He accuses Israel of committing “war crimes” in Gaza and calls Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the butcher of Gaza.”
KAN reported that Hamas leaders have yet to determine their next steps in the war, both within Gaza itself and the role of Iran-proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon, and that another hostage-prisoner deal may be on the table.
Erdoğan warned earlier this month that Israel would pay a “heavy price” if it attempts to assassinate members of Hamas living in Turkey in the wake of reports about alleged Israeli plans to assassinate Hamas members living outside Palestine.
“Above all, it looks like the people writing such reports don’t know Turkey very well. They don’t know Turks. They don’t know us. If it [Israel] makes such a mistake, they should know that they will pay a heavy price,” Erdoğan warned.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel was planning to hunt down Hamas leaders around the world once it moves away from fighting the group in Gaza.
Netanyahu has ordered spy agencies to draw up plans to assassinate the group’s top leaders outside of Gaza, the paper reported, citing Israeli officials.