Hamas rejects reports about political bureau relocation from Qatar to Turkey as false

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has roundly dismissed as “false and unsubstantiated” reports circulated by some Israeli media outlets that the Gaza-based group has relocated its political bureau from Qatar to Turkey.

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 refuted 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 online newspaper, citing an Arab diplomat, reported that senior members of Hamas’s abroad leadership left Qatar last week for Turkey.

In a statement to the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) on November 9, Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesman Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari 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.”

Qatar: Reports about withdrawal from Gaza mediation, Hamas exit from Doha ‘inaccurate’

Qatar rejects reports alleging its withdrawal from efforts to end the Israeli war on Gaza, besides dismissing claims about Doha’s ordering Hamas leaders to leave the kingdom.

The spokesman, meanwhile, 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 said the main goal served by the movement’s office in Qatar was to be a channel of communication between concerned parties.

An unnamed source asserted earlier this month that Qatari officials instructed Hamas leaders over a week ago that they must close their diplomatic office in Doha following pressure from the US.

In a series of high-stakes communications, Washington has informed Qatari officials that the continued presence of representatives from the Gaza-based group in the Persian Gulf kingdom is no longer acceptable after the movement turned down initiatives aimed at a temporary truce in Gaza, the source claimed.

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.

Qatar’s long-standing role as a mediator has increasingly come under fire from US lawmakers.

Fourteen Republican US senators issued a letter to the Department of State lately, requesting that Washington immediately freeze the assets of Hamas officials residing in Qatar, extradite a number of top Hamas officials residing in the Persian Gulf country, and tell Qatar “to end its hospitality to Hamas’ senior leadership.

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