BICOM

The Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, held a press conference yesterday and discussed Hamas’s relations with Iran and the possibility of a renewed conflict with Israel.

Sinwar told journalists from al-Rai, the Hamas-run news agency, that “relations with Iran are excellent and Iran is the largest supporter of the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades [Hamas’ armed wing] with money and arms”. He also said that “the relationship today is developing and returning to what it was in the old days,” and that this would be reflected in Hamas’ ongoing “resistance” against Israel.

Sinwar claimed that Iran was the largest backer of Hamas’ military wing “financially and militarily”. “Thousands of people work every day to make missiles, (dig) tunnels and train scuba divers,” he said. “The relationship with Iran is in this context.”

When asked about the possibility of a renewed conflict with Israel, Sinwar stated that “we are not interested in a war, we do not want war and we want to push it backward as much as we can so that our people will relax and take their breath and in the same time we are building our power. We do not fear war and we are fully ready for it.”

Hamas-Iran relations have been improving for some time since a cooling of relations began in 2012 when Hamas decided not to support Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war.

Hamas and Iran have not disclosed the full scale of Iranian support, but regional diplomats have indicated that Iran’s financial aid for the Islamist movement was dramatically reduced in recent years and directed only to the Qassam Brigades rather than to Hamas’s political institutions.

Hamas’ recent internal elections resulted in the pro-Iranian bloc, led by Sinwar and Salah al-Arouri, emerging with more support and this led to a renewal of Iran-Hamas relations.

On 4 August, a senior Hamas delegation arrived in Tehran for the swearing-in ceremony of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. In a statement, Hamas hailed Iran’s “important role in supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, advocating for their rights and inspiring their resistance” against Israeli occupation and added that the visit would “further bolster the relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

Hamas’ re-alignment with Iran comes at a time when the organisation finds itself increasingly isolated in the wider region. Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council have defined Hamas as a terror organisation and Egypt views it as an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas is also facing a severe energy crisis in Gaza which was exacerbated by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to stop paying Gaza’s energy bill.

Sinwar has also recently invited Abbas’s Fatah movement for talks on forming a new national unity government to administer both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.