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]
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]
Osama Hamdan, the top representative of Hamas in Lebanon
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]
Since the early 1990s, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been sponsoring the militant organization Hamas with military aid and training and financial aid.[16] Iran has remained a key patron of Hamas, providing them with funds, weapons, and training.[17][18][19]
According to a 2020 U.S. State Department report, Iran provides about $100 million annually to Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas.[20] As of 2023, according to an Israeli security source, Iran had significantly increased its funding for Hamas to $350 million a year.[21]
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.[22][23]
Qatar has been a key financial supporter of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, transferring more than $1.8 billion to Hamas over the years.[24][25] 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.[26]
The United States requested in 2011 that Qatar provide a base for the Hamas leadership to ease communications with the group.[26] From 2012, Qatar hosted the Hamas party leadership when Hamas head Khaled Meshal relocated from Syria to Qatar.[27] The current head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has resided in Doha since 2016.[28] Qatar has been called Hamas' most important financial backer and foreign ally.[29][30]
From 2018 to 2023, Israel's government enabled and approved of the Qatari support for Hamas for political reasons.[31]
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.[32][33] 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.[34]
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.[39][40] From time to time, Israel has suggested Turkey to support Hamas,[41][42] while in other cases it has opposed the support.[43]
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".[46][47] Turkey hosts senior Hamas officials, including Saleh al-Arouri. Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh and former chief Khaled Meshal visit Turkey often.[48][49][50]
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.[51] Hamas' Turkey branch reportedly takes decisions without taking into account the movement as a whole and without involving the Hamas leadership.[52][53] Hamas has reportedly planned attacks against Israel from Turkey, including the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers in 2014.[54] In 2020 Israeli diplomats charged Turkey with furnishing passports and identity cards to Hamas members in Istanbul.[55]
The Turkish government met with Hamas leaders in February 2006, after the organization's victory in the Palestinian elections.[56]
Russia has diplomatic relations with the political wing of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist organization which rules the Gaza Strip. Russia has not designated Hamas as a terrorist organization,[57] though it has condemned Hamas attacks as "terrorism" and has taken a hard line against Islamist terrorism. Russia has also maintained relations with Israel.
^Abdelaziz, Khalid; Eltahir, Nafisa; Irish, John (September 23, 2021). "Sudan closes door on support for Hamas". Reuters. Archived from the original on October 15, 2023. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
^Higgins, Andrew (January 24, 2009). "How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 26, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 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.