There is great anger among the residents of the Gaza Strip at the leadership of Hamas, headed by Ismail Haniyeh, after it became known recently that Hazem Haniyeh, son of Ismail Haniyeh, traveled with his family to Turkey, where his father, who travels between Turkey and Qatar, lives from time to time.
The joining of Hazem Haniyeh and his family to the rest of the family in Turkey actually completes the move of the Haniyeh family members to Turkey, they left the Gaza Strip and moved to Turkey and Qatar and became businessmen.
Egypt approved their departure from the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, their names appeared on the list of those leaving and from there the information was leaked to social media.
Many residents of Gaza expressed on social media their outrage at the travel of the Haniyeh family members abroad while they are forced to stay behind under Israel's tight siege from 2007 until today. The difficult economic situation in Gaza has become unbearable, unemployment is rising and the danger of a new round of fighting with Israel hovers over their heads.
On social media one can see reactions of ridicule and great anger at Ismail Haniyeh who abandoned the residents of the Gaza Strip for a life of luxury abroad.
According to sources in the Gaza Strip, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, whose personal fortune is estimated at about 4 billion dollars, has decided to make Turkey his permanent residence and stay away from his home in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Ismail Haniyeh, who serves as the head of the political bureau of the Hamas movement, moved from the Gaza Strip to live in Qatar more than two years ago after he broke his promise to Egypt and went through the Rafah crossing to Tehran to attend the funeral of Qassem Souleimani, the commander of the "Quds " force who was assassinated in Iraq by the US army.
At the time, he justified his stay abroad by saying that he was preparing to run in the internal elections for a second term as chairman of the political bureau of Hamas.
The Egyptians were furious, but over time they realized that it might be better for him to stay away from the Strip, gradually his family members joined him and he established a business empire for his children, in Turkey he feels safe in all respects, from a security point of view he is convinced that Israel would not dare to assassinate him on Turkish soil and his stay there allows him to whitewash all the funds he has accumulated and to ensure a comfortable life for him and his family far from the collapsing Gaza Strip.
Following Ismail Haniyeh, other senior officials in the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations began to leave Gaza and live abroad.
Khalil Al-haya, who serves as the deputy leader of Hamas in Gaza and is responsible for the movement's relations with Arab countries and Islam, who is considered the new star of the Hamas leadership, also left Gaza and moved to Qatar, about a month ago he returned to Gaza but it seems that he intends to return abroad.
Another senior figure Salah Al-Bardawil moved with his family to Qatar, other senior figures in the Gaza Strip also followed him such as Sami Abu Zouhri who was the movement's spokesman, Taher Al-Nounu, Ismail Haniyeh's advisor and also two senior members of the Islamic Jihad organization: Sheikh Nafez Azzam who moved to Lebanon and Muhammad Al-Hindi who moved to Turkey.
A life of luxury and wealth abroad
The Lebanese magazine "Al-Majalah" reported on September 11th 2021 about the luxurious life of Hamas leaders abroad, these leaders took advantage of the Palestinian problem and turned it into a source of profit and wealth, thanks to acts of corruption they became owners of real estate assets worth billions of Dollars while the residents of the Gaza Strip live in conditions of terrible and growing poverty under the dictatorial rule of Hamas.
The Hamas organization that presents itself as defending the rights of the Palestinians and fighting for their liberation from the Israeli occupation is a corrupt organization, the Forbes magazine graded it third in the list of the richest terrorist movements with annual revenues of more than 700 million dollars in 2018.
Among the names of the members of the Hamas leadership who have accumulated huge fortune by exploiting international aid funds and donations directed to the Gaza Strip are Hamas leader abroad Khaled Mashal and his deputy Musa Abu Marzouk.
Khaled Mashal's personal fortune is estimated at 5 billion dollars.
The residents of the Gaza Strip know all of this information very well , they follow every news report about Hamas leadership.
The corruption is being carried out before their eyes and it is not much different from the corruption in the Palestinian Authority mechanisms in the West Bank.
Everyone who is close to the plate of government participates in the celebration of corruption this phenomenon of senior leaders who leave the Gaza Strip and go abroad to take care of their home and the future of their families has already become a regular norm, the leaders staying abroad claim that they are engaged in political activity against Israel, such as coordinating with Iran against Israel, transferring weapons to the Gaza Strip and collecting funds in Islamic countries.
No one in Gaza believes these lies!
Yoni Ben Menachem
Senior Middle East Analyst
