Enlarge image

Ismail Haniya: Head of the “political wing” of Hamas (archive image)

Photo:

Iranian Foreign Ministry / EPA

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan received the head of the Islamist Hamas, Ismail Haniya, in Ankara on Saturday.

Fidan and Hanija discussed the need to reach a ceasefire in Gaza as quickly as possible, the state news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday evening, citing diplomatic sources.

It was also about the hostages in the hands of Hamas, a possible increase in humanitarian aid and a two-state solution, it said.

Haniya is the head of the Hamas Politburo and lives in Qatar.

The last official contact between the two politicians was a phone call on October 16th - immediately after Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7th and the start of the resulting war.

Hamas terrorists killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped around 250 hostages.

Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, which have reportedly killed 24,900 people so far, according to Palestinian figures that cannot be independently verified.

According to Israeli information, 132 hostages are still held by Hamas, 27 of whom are believed to be dead.

After exchanging 105 hostages for 240 Palestinian prisoners at the end of November, Hamas only wants to release the remaining deportees when Israel's military withdraws from Gaza.

Is Erdogan neutral?

The first hostage deal came about through Qatar's mediation, among other things.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had offered to mediate between Hamas and Israel since the beginning of the conflict.

So far, all mediation efforts have been made through Qatar and Egypt.

Perhaps also because Erdogan is not necessarily considered a neutral mediator: Hamas is considered a terrorist organization in Europe and the USA, but not in Turkey.

For Erdogan, the radical Islamic Palestinian organization represents a “liberation movement,” while he has repeatedly described Israel as a “terrorist state.”

Ismail Haniya, head of government of the Palestinian Autonomous Territories from March 2006 to June 2007, has been officially head of Hamas since 2017.

It is not unusual that he is in Turkey: since 2019, the country has been one of the places from which he runs Hamas' business, along with Qatar.

He represents the organization on the political and diplomatic level and is considered comparatively pragmatic.

It is not entirely clear how far his influence extends to Hamas's largely autonomous "military wing": parts of the organization's political level were allegedly surprised by the attack on October 7th.

pat/AFP/dpa