Hamas's political bureau heads a delegation to visit Turkey and is expected to move on to Qatar and other countries • It is believed Egypt approved the move to leave the Gaza Strip due to the political crisis in Israel, the desire to highlight its status as a mediator and in exchange for intelligence information on terror cells.

• Would like to strengthen his personal status. Haniyeh with Sinwar (right) and senior Islamic Jihad al-Batash // Photo: AFP

The head of the Hamas terrorist bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, is currently on a tour of Muslim countries after receiving special permission from Egypt, which prevented him from leaving the Gaza Strip for a year and a half. Remember, the senior is in Turkey today (Tuesday) and is expected to continue to Qatar and other countries, including Malaysia.

A Palestinian researcher estimates that Egyptian approval came due to Hamas' flexibility during Egypt's mediation attempts at internal reconciliation, and an understanding in Cairo that Abu Mazen is the one who fails the talks. In addition, the investigator claimed that Egypt had assisted with intelligence received from Hamas about terror cells, which encouraged it in the direction of granting the permit.

Of course, as part of Hamas's flexibility in seeing Egypt, the written positive response provided by the terrorist organization Mahmoud Abbas outlines Palestinian elections. It does not matter, of course, that Hamas, according to Arab reports, has attached to the positive answer a request for a series of clarifications from Ramallah. According to the investigator, Majed Abu Dick, Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah a-Sisi also wants to highlight his role as an international mediator, to weaken his criticism of human rights abuses and suppression of recent protests in his country.

It should be recalled that the Hamas delegation discussed with senior intelligence officials in Egypt about the understandings with Israel and the way to implement them. This is to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. However, according to Arab reports, Haniye did not return an explicit answer and is expected to reply only after returning to Cairo from the round of visits.

The same investigator also estimated that the approval given to the head of the political bureau also enjoyed mitigating political circumstances. That includes the impeachment attempt by US President Donald Trump in the House of Representatives, which is expected to be halted in Congress but engages his administration. In that connection, the political crisis in Israel was noted, and the indictment against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was published. These crises prevented possible resistance to the move.

Russia was another factor pushing for Haniyeh's campaign, inviting the Hamas delegation to visit her for a dialogue focused on reconciling the Palestinian interior. And in Egypt, they preferred to obey the Kremlin's wishes. The last reason behind Egyptian approval was the understanding that Hamas could never achieve a breakthrough in the region in light of the Arab states' tendency to normalize relations with Israel. That is why Cairo felt that Hamas would prefer not to visit Iran so as not to upset them.

What Hamas hopes to achieve

According to Palestinians, Hamas aims to maintain and develop its foreign relations system through aid to state-sponsored projects. This is partly due to the tightening of the blockade, following the closure of a large part of the smuggling tunnels along the Gaza Strip. This development, according to the Palestinian researcher, has made it easier for Arab countries to approach Israel in the "century deal". This is the case with the Saudi royal court, whose detainee Mohammed bin Salman expressed his affection for Israel and his government recently arrested dozens of Palestinians affiliated with Hamas.

Beyond political gain, Haniyeh hopes to raise financial aid for the terrorist organization, even if it is temporary assistance. This will allow the organization to cope with the economic crisis it is facing, and for which it would need the Qatari money grants.

According to the Palestinian scholar, the head of the Hamas political bureau is expected to stay abroad for a long time to achieve these goals.