Hamas asks Iran not to target ‘neighboring countries’ after attacks on Qatar, Turkey

Hamas on Saturday called on its benefactor Iran to refrain from striking neighboring nations after the Islamic Republic responded to the US-Israeli bombing campaign by targeting countries across the region, including Qatar and Turkey, two of the terror group’s other leading state sponsors.

The Hamas statement, which called for an end to the “American-Zionist aggression” against Iran, came as Palestinian media reported at least three people killed by Israeli gunfire in Gaza on Saturday. The Israel Defense Forces, which said it killed three Palestinian gunmen since Friday, did not immediately comment on the reports, but regularly attributes such killings to alleged ceasefire violations by Hamas.

In its first such public appeal to Tehran, Hamas said that, “while affirming the right of the Islamic Republic of Iran to respond to this aggression by all available means in accordance with international norms and laws, the movement calls on the brothers in Iran to avoid targeting neighboring countries.”

A Hamas official told AFP that the Palestinian terror group has been in contact with Iranian officials over the issue.

“The Israeli occupation seeks to sow discord between Iran and its Arab and Islamic neighbors,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

“Hamas’s leadership has also reached out to officials in several countries, including Qatar, Turkey, and Iraq, urging them to work toward halting the American and Zionist aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he added.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at over a dozen Middle East countries, including Israel, after Israel and the US launched a bombing campaign on the Islamic Republic on February 28, in a bid to create conditions for the fall of its regime and to destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

On Saturday, Qatar said it intercepted two missiles, after blasts were heard in the capital Doha and authorities said they had evacuated some areas. And Turkey on Friday said a ballistic missile fired from Iran had been shot down in Turkish airspace by NATO forces.

Under supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli bombing campaign, Iran viewed support for Palestinian terrorist organizations such as Hamas as a central pillar of its regional strategy against Israel and its allies. Analysts estimate that Iran provided Hamas with tens of millions of dollars annually.

Qatar, which hosts Hamas’s leadership in Doha, has also been a key financial supporter linked to Gaza during Hamas’s rule, with much of its funding described as humanitarian or reconstruction aid — covering civil servant salaries, fuel, and infrastructure.

Critics accuse Qatar of having assisted Hamas fund its massive underground tunnel complex in Gaza, as well as the onslaught of October 7, 2023, that sparked the war in the Strip.

Turkey, meanwhile, has provided mainly political and diplomatic backing rather than large-scale direct funding. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara has supported Hamas rhetorically and has hosted visits by its leaders.

Seven people said killed by IDF in Gaza over past two days

Palestinian media reported that a woman was killed by IDF gunfire east of central Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp on Saturday morning. She was identified as Asmaa al-Saidi, 54.

Another two men were reportedly killed in a pre-dawn strike targeting a checkpoint of the Hamas-run police in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis. They were identified as Ahmed al-Moghrabi, 35, and Mosab al-Raqab, 43.

A young man and two teenagers were also reportedly killed Friday night by IDF gunfire in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, in the Strip’s north. They were identified as Mahmoud al-Siqli and Younis Eyad, both 17, as well as Abdullah Shomer, 20.

And 5-year-old Samih Maarouf was also reportedly shot dead by the IDF in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya Thursday afternoon.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said in a Saturday morning statement that the Strip’s hospitals received 13 people wounded and the bodies of seven people killed by IDF gunfire over the past 48 hours. The statement did not identify the people killed or wounded, say where or in what circumstances the IDF fired on them, or specify the severity of the wounds.

Meanwhile, the IDF said Saturday that troops of the Paratroopers Brigade killed a Palestinian gunman who opened fire on the them in the southern Gaza Strip earlier in the day.

The soldiers were conducting clearing operations of Hamas infrastructure in southern Gaza’s Rafah area when they identified the armed terror operative, the IDF said. According to the military, the operative opened fire on the paratroopers, who then returned fire and killed him. No soldiers were hurt, the army said.

In another incident on Friday in the Khan Younis area, the IDF carried out a strike against two armed Hamas operatives, both of whom were killed, the military said.

The military also said on Thursday evening that four Palestinian terrorists were killed in an IDF airstrike after crossing the Gaza ceasefire line in the Strip’s north earlier in the day and approaching troops of the 205th “Iron Fist” Reserve Armored Brigade “in a manner that posed an immediate threat.”

The IDF published footage of the strike. It was unclear if this was the same incident in which Maarouf, the 5-year-old, was reportedly killed in Beit Lahiya on Thursday.

כוחות צה"ל חיסלו מחבלים שהפרו את ההסכם וחצו את הקו הצהוב בצפון רצועת עזה

כוחות צוות הקרב של חטיבת 'אגרוף הברזל' (205) הפועלים בצפון רצועת עזה זיהו מוקדם יותר היום ארבעה מחבלים שחצו את הקו הצהוב והתקרבו לעבר הכוחות באופן שהיווה איום מיידי.

מיד לאחר הזיהוי, הכוחות חיסלו את… pic.twitter.com/NusLzCCdDN

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 12, 2026

Earlier in the week, according to the IDF, troops killed six Palestinian terrorists who crossed the ceasefire line and approached troops in three separate incidents in the Strip’s north and south.

Separately, the IDF said it struck a rocket launcher that had been used to attack Israel from Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood. Troops in the area of Rafah also located a weapons cache and the bodies of two Hamas operatives believed to have been trapped in a tunnel on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line, the IDF said.

Dozens of Hamas operatives were previously believed to be trapped underground in the eastern Rafah area, on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line. The IDF has reported killing or capturing more than 50 of them in recent months.