Israeli raids on a residential tower district have drawn attention to a growing rift between Hamas and Qatar.
In recent days, Israeli forces have been operating against Hamas in the Hamad Tower district of Khan Yunis. This complex of 40 residential buildings is named after Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, who financed the project with hundreds of millions of dollars.
The towers were inaugurated in 2016.
This week, Israeli forces uncovered extensive terror infrastructure including a weapons factory, tunnel shafts, rocket launching positions and command centers among and beneath the residences. Large numbers of weapons, explosives and military equipment were also seized.
Israeli forces evacuating residents from Hamad nabbed dozens of terrorists trying to flee among the civilians, while another 250 holed up in the towers were also arrested during the raids.
Relations between Qatar and Hamas were fraying even before October 7. In 2023, Qatar suspended funds for Hamas over Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar’s support for Syria. Hamas leaders based in Qatar, such as Ismail Haniyeh, Musa Abu Marzook, and Khaled Masha’al are also affronted by Sinwar.
Qatar and Hamas’s “Qatari camp” wants an immediate ceasefire, a release of the hostages and for evacuated residents of northern Gaza to return and rebuild their homes.
They also want Hamas to remain in Gaza after the war as a political group. As TPS reported in February, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas is throwing a lifeline to Hamas by trying to draw it into a unity government to rule post-war Gaza.
But Sinwar, who is in Hamas’s “Iranian camp,” ultimately controls the fate of the hostages and refuses to cooperate. TPS has learned that the Qataris recently warned that they will not finance any post-war reconstruction as long as Sinwar remains in Gaza. Sinwar is also complicating Qatar’s relationship with the US.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been pressing Doha to remove Hamas from Qatari soil, arguing that the existing relationship cannot continue. Qatar was trying to soften Washington’s pressure by promoting additional hostage release deals and touting its ability to moderate Hamas, but that approach is not working.
At least 1,200 people were killed and 240 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the remaining 134 hostages, Israel recently declared 31 of them dead.