Hamas leaders 'have left Qatar' but the group's offices remain open

Palestinian group's leaders are staying in Turkey, Algeria, Iran, Russia and China

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal gestures as he announces a new policy document in Doha, May 1, 2017. Reuters

Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza

Hamas's political leaders have left Qatar, their base in exile since 2012, but their headquarters in the Gulf state remains officially open, two sources told The National on Tuesday.

They said about 13 senior leaders of the Palestinian militant group had left Qatar and were temporarily staying in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Algeria, Russia and China. Those who left included top Gaza ceasefire negotiators Khalil Al Hayaa and Zaher Jabareen, who are now in Turkey. The leaders also include Khaled Meshaal, the former Hamas leader, Basem Naeem, Hussam Badran and Mousa Abu Marzouq, the sources said.

Qatar has permanently hosted five members of Hamas's political leadership, but they are frequently joined for relatively long spells by leaders based elsewhere in the region.

“Hamas has not permanently left Qatar but its leaders are not there at present. They've been gone for three weeks,” said one of the sources.

On Tuesday, Qatar confirmed that Hamas negotiators were not present in Doha.

Senior Hamas official Khaled Mashal. Reuters

“The leaders of Hamas that are within the negotiating team are now not in Doha,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said. “The decision to … close down the office permanently, is a decision that you will hear about from us directly.”

Qatar, along with the US and Egypt, had led months of fruitless negotiations for a truce in the Gaza war but the Gulf state announced recently it was pausing its mediation efforts.

The announcement came after reports that Qatar had warned Hamas that its political bureau was no longer welcome in Doha. Earlier this month, sources said Qatar had given Hamas a month to leave the country. Hamas officials have since repeatedly denied they were asked to leave, but there are growing signs that the group's relations with Qatar have become fraught.

“The mediation process right now … is suspended unless we take a decision to reverse that which is based on the positions of both sides,” Mr Al Ansari said on Tuesday.

“The office of Hamas in Doha was created for the sake of the mediation process. Obviously, when there is no mediation process, the office itself doesn't have any function,” he added.

Earlier this month, Hamas rejected a proposal from Egypt and Qatar for a short-term truce because it did not offer a lasting ceasefire or guarantee a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Cars drive past signs bearing images of the leaders of the Lebanese Hezbollah group Hasan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on a road in Jerusalem. Both have been killed by Israel. AFP

Hamas attacked southern Israel in October last year, killing about 1,200 and taking 250 others hostage, triggering a war that has to date killed more than 43,900 Palestinians in Gaza and injured more than twice this number, according to figures released by the enclave's Ministry of Health.

Hamas is believed to be holding 100 hostages, 40 of whom are believed to be dead, according to Israel's military.

The sources said the decision by Hamas leaders to leave Qatar, while mostly due to differences with Doha, could be rooted in part in the group's realisation that President Joe Biden's administration was incapable of meeting its conditions for a ceasefire and securing a hostage deal after president-elect Donald Trump's victory in the November 5 election.

Hamas was also convinced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not agree to a deal, regardless of its terms, before Mr Trump, a staunch backer of the Israeli leader, takes office in January, according to the sources.

Hamas's strained relations with Qatar, said the sources, comes at a time when old divisions within the group's leadership are resurfacing, with senior officials loyal to the late leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israel in October, adamant to continue his hard-line approach to the ceasefire negotiations being at odds with others who support more flexibility to halt the high death toll among Palestinian civilians in Gaza.