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Turkey allowed Hamas to plan attacks on Israel

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What happened: A new report in The Telegraph has revealed that Turkey is allowing Hamas figures to plan attacks against Israel from Istanbul.

  • According to the report, transcripts of Israeli police interrogations with suspects show that senior Hamas operatives based in Turkey’s largest city are planning attacks and directing operations in Jerusalem and the West Bank, including an assassination attempt earlier this year on the mayor of Jerusalem.
  • The paper says that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “hosted” Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s Political Bureau last weekend and that Turkish intelligence agents maintain close contact with the group’s operatives in Istanbul.
  • Israeli and Egyptian intelligence reveals that at least 11 Hamas operatives have moved from the Gaza Strip to Istanbul in the past year, where they find a welcoming environment. One of those is believed to be Abdel Rahman Ghanimat, the head of a Hamas cell behind a series of deadly suicide bombings in Israel in the 1990s, as well as Hamas treasurer Kamal Awad, who was recently sanctioned by the US Treasury.
  • A Turkish diplomatic source has denied that Hamas is planning attacks from Turkey. He said the group is “not a terrorist organisation” but a legitimate Palestinian political party. Hamas denied planning attacks from Turkish soil and dismissed Israel’s complaints as “baseless allegations” designed to damage its relations with Turkey.

Context: Israel has repeatedly warned Turkey that Hamas is using its cities as a base to plan attacks against Israel. The Foreign Ministry said: “Israel is extremely concerned that Turkey is allowing Hamas terrorists to operate from its territory, in planning and engaging in terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.”

  • In 2015 Turkey signed a US-brokered agreement which pledged to stop Hamas plotting attacks from its soil. However, Hamas’s deputy leader Saleh al-Arour, who has a $5m US bounty on his head, travels freely in Turkey according to the report in the Telegraph.
  • The Turkish government under Erdoğan has offered Hamas a safe haven in Istanbul as Arab states such as Saudi Arabia have distanced themselves from the group and moved closer to Israel. Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the EU and US. Its military wing has been designated a terrorist group by the UK.
  • In a 2011 interview with PBS, Erdoğan said: “Let me give you a very clear message. I don’t see Hamas as a terror organization. Hamas is a political party. And it is an organisation. It is a resistance movement trying to protect its country under occupation.”
  • Israel and Turkey’s relationship deteriorated after the 2010 flotilla incident, when IDF troops intercepted the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara ship that was trying to break through the maritime blockade on Gaza and killed 10 Turkish activists after clashes broke out.
  • This week is was revealed that Turkish Naval Forces intercepted an Israeli ship in Cypriot waters two weeks ago and drove it away. The incident is part of Turkey recently taking steps to increase its influence in the eastern Mediterranean where discoveries of gas and oil fields have produced tensions between neighbouring states over maritime borders and drilling rights.​​​​​​​

Looking ahead: Israel and Turkish relations have deteriorated under President Erdoğan but Israel has refrained from acting against Hamas operatives in Turkey in order to avoid a diplomatic fallout with such a high profile NATO member. If Turkish relations with the US and NATO were to further deteriorate and  Turkey and Israeli intelligence finds further strong evidence that Hamas operatives are planning attacks in Turkey, then Israel might reconsider its current policy of restraint.