What Hamas’ missing leadership says about the ‘cause’

Smoke billows following Israeli strikes in Gaza City on10 October, 2023. Reuters

Ordinary Gazans are suffering. They are bearing the brunt of Hamas’ actions. But what is the group doing? Where are its leaders? And is there consensus among them on the next course of action? Let’s answer those questions one by one.

Hamas took more than 100 Israeli hostages. They are still in Gaza, and as Hamas plans their next move, these hostages will be critical to their strategy.

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So, Hamas could use them as a bargaining chip, a way to deter Israel from an all-out assault. But no one knows how successful that will be. That brings us to Hamas’ attack last week.

The ‘secret’ plan

It was a highly secretive operation. Israel was caught off guard, but so was the political leadership of the Hamas. According to a senior Hamas official, only a handful knew of this operation. “Zero hour was not known to anyone other a handful. We picked the right time when the enemy is busy with their holidays,” says Ali Barakeh, a member of Hamas’ command overseas.

So, they picked a Jewish holiday. They did not inform everyone and they launched an all-out assault. According to Hamas, the attack was planned by around six top Hamas commanders – all of them were in Gaza and no one else was informed, not even the group’s other leaders.

Earlier, Hamas had talked about help from Iran. There was apparently a secret meeting in Beirut – a meeting where Tehran gave a go-ahead for the operation. But a senior Hamas official has denied any such report. “No one from Hamas’ central command was in Beirut last Monday. No one from the central command or the political bureau was here before the operation,” says Barakeh.

Where are the leaders?

That brings us to the question: Who is leading Hamas right now and where is its leadership?

Hamas was founded in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian refugee living in Gaza. Israel killed Yassin in 2004. In 2006, Hamas won the parliamentary elections. A year later, they took control of the strip. Since then, they are the de-facto rulers of Gaza.

Currently, Hamas has two leaders. There is Yehia Sinwar, who lives in Gaza, and then there is Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in exile – in Qatar. These are two main leaders but there are several others and most of them have left Gaza. They now live in Turkiye, Qatar and Lebanon and reports say they lead a life of luxury.

They live in upscale hotels in Beirut, Doha and Istanbul. They wear fancy suits. They attend meetings at five-star hotels. They travel in private planes. Several of their children run lucrative real estate businesses. Take Ismail Haniyeh, for example. In 2006, he famously pledged to live on just olive oil and dried herbs for the rest of his life. Instead, he was caught playing soccer in Qatar in 2021.

Where’s the ‘Palestinian cause’?

This is an image problem for Hamas, and it has been going on for quite some time. Hamas may talk about the situation in Gaza, but its leaders don’t live in the strip. They lead luxurious lives abroad while ordinary Gazans deal with poverty and blockades.

It’s something that has come up before and Hamas knows about it. They hardly comment on their leaders abroad. More often than not, they call these temporary foreign tours, a way to widen their cause. But these tours go on for years. The leadership is quick to leave but they are not quick to return, and ordinary Palestinians have noticed it.

So, the Hamas leadership often talks about struggle, on being with the Palestinians, on supporting the Palestinian cause, but this is not their struggle, or that of their families. They stay far away from all of this, pulling strings without suffering the consequences.

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.

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