Hamas official denies head Ismail Haniyeh moving to Beirut

Militant group's leader reportedly met with senior Lebanese government officials during a three-week visit

A Lebanese soldier stands by as a large procession gathers for the one year anniversary of the Lebanese protest movement, on October 17. Getty Images

A Hamas spokesperson in Lebanon denied that Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the political bureau of Palestinian militant group, had settled in Beirut.

The rumours are "false" and Haniyeh is currently in Qatar, Osama Hamdan, who represents Hamas in Lebanon, told The National, on Tuesday.

Quoting an anonymous source, the news website Beirut Report claimed that Haniyeh – a designated terrorist by the US – had been refused entry to Egypt and was moving to Lebanon.

“Our website learnt that Hamas leadership is divided over establishing its head office in Beirut instead of Doha,” read the article.

Haniyeh ended a three-week stay to Lebanon, including a visit to its biggest Palestinian camp in the south of the country, on September 21, according to a Hamas press release.

Lebanese news website Al Modon reported that during his visit to Lebanon, Haniyeh met with a number of high-level officials, including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, and General Security head Gen Abbas Ibrahim.

A Hamas delegation visited Cairo on Sunday, according to Saudi TV network Al Arabiya. Haniyeh was not part of the visit.

Palestinian political parties, including Hamas and Fatah, are represented in Lebanon’s 12 official Palestinian camps.

Palestinians living in Lebanon today descend from Palestinians who fled the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The Lebanese government estimated their number at 174,000 in 2017. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says there as many as 450,000.

Hamas, which had it headquarters in Damascus until 2012, enjoys a close relationship with Iran-backed Lebanese party Hezbollah. Both have fought against Israel and are considered terror groups by the United States.