Hamas Leaders Meet Secretly in Turkey

A secret meeting of leaders from the Palestinian radical Hamas movement took place in Turkey, where the continuation of the war with Israel was discussed, both in Gaza and from Lebanon, as well as the issue of prisoners and prisoner exchanges. This was reported by Israeli Kan TV, citing sources.

Arab media have not reported on the meeting. The negotiations were led by Hamas' deputy political bureau chief Saleh al-Arouri, who arrived from Beirut, as well as the group's former leader Khaled Meshaal, who resides in Doha, Qatar. Several other high-ranking representatives of the radical movement also participated in the meeting.

In early December, the head of Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, announced that Israel is prepared to eliminate Hamas leaders in Qatar and Turkey. He compared the new objective to the liquidation of terrorist organizers, which resulted in the deaths of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team in 1972. The reprisal operation for the terrorism took about 20 years, and the perpetrators of the act were pursued worldwide.

For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that he will never recognize the Hamas movement as a terrorist organization. Furthermore, he called on U.S. President Joe Biden to refrain from supporting Israel.