Hamas leader Ismal Haniyeh will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The meeting will take place on Saturday at the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul.
It comes after Qatar admitted on Wednesday that negotiations aimed at stopping hostilities in Gaza and freeing Israeli hostages were "stallling.' The last tête-à-tête in Turkey with Haniyeh, who is based in Qatar, dates back to the summer of 2023. The Hamas leader was received at the presidential palace in Ankara on July 26 at the same time as the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. He had since met discreetly with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on January 2, "in Turkey." The head of state, who has increased his invective against Israel since October, estimated that the Israelis "surpassed Hitler" by being guilty of the deaths of "14,000 innocent children" in the Gaza Strip.