Hamas refutes reports about political bureau relocation

Sources close to Hamas said on Monday that such claims are “wild rumors that the occupying regime tends to spread from time to time”.

Additionally, a diplomatic source in Ankara denied reports regarding the relocation of Hamas’ political bureau to Turkey.

“Members of the Hamas’s political office visit Turkey from time to time. The allegations that the Hamas’s politburo has moved to Turkey are not true,” the source indicated.

Sources from the Turkish Foreign Ministry also dismissed claims that Hamas’s political bureau has relocated to Turkey.

“The claims that the Hamas’s Political Bureau has relocated to Turkey do not reflect the truth,” the sources said.

Earlier in the day, the Times of Israel, citing an Arab diplomat, reported that senior members of Hamas’s abroad leadership left Qatar last week for Turkey.

Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesman Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari has described reports about Doha’s departure from mediation efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza and exchange of Israeli captives with Palestinian prisoners as “inaccurate”.

He clarified his country’s standing on the matter by saying that Doha had notified the concerned parties 10 days ago during the last attempts to reach an agreement, “that it would stall its efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel if an agreement was not reached in that round.”

The spokesperson has dismissed media report claiming that Qatar had called on the leaders representing the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas to leave the country.

Describing those reports as “inaccurate”, the official stated the main goal served by the movement’s office in Qatar was to be a channel of communication between concerned parties.

Since 2012, Qatar has housed Hamas’ political leaders in Doha as part of an agreement to facilitate negotiations, particularly during periods of intense conflict between Hamas and the Israeli regime.