GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The leader of Hamas will remain outside the Gaza Strip for up to a year, a senior official says.
Ismail Haniyeh left Gaza in December on his first major foreign tour since taking over as the Palestinian terror group’s leader in 2017.
He has since visited Turkey, Egypt, and Malaysia as well Iran, for the funeral of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, killed by a US airstrike in Iraq.
“Haniyeh will remain abroad and continue to run Hamas until he has completed all the tasks and all the goals of his foreign tour,” Hamas deputy chief Khalil al-Hayya tells journalists.
The trip could last up to a year, he says.
Haniyeh is currently in the Gulf state of Qatar, which is a longtime Hamas ally and allied to the Muslim Brotherhood, in which Hamas has its ideological roots.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at the funeral of Qassem Soleimani, in Tehran, Iran, January 6, 2020. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader)
The Hamas leader left Gaza via Egypt, the only state apart from Israel to border Gaza.
Hayya admits the Iranian visit has caused tensions with Egypt, which is allied with Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia.
“Our brothers in Egypt rebuked us for visiting Iran, but (Hamas) has its own independent stance,” Hayya says, saying the visit strengthened “the relationship between Hamas and Iran.”
Hamas has controlled the impoverished Gaza Strip since ousting loyalists of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.
— AFP
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