A Hamas operation in Turkey is trying to direct terrorist attacks within Israel, including an alleged suicide bomb plot that was foiled this week, Israeli intelligence officials claim.
Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, said it had arrested Anas Shurman, a Jordanian citizen of Palestinian descent who had been planning to carry out a suicide attack in Israel. A 12kg bomb that Shurman was supposed to detonate had also been found. According to Shin Bet, Shurman was recruited by Imad Abid, a Hamas member based in Turkey.
The overall commander of the Hamas base in Istanbul is said to be Zaher Jabarin, a veteran of the movement who was jailed in 1993 for his part in the kidnap and murder of an Israeli police officer. He was a founding member of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.
Jabarin, 55, who was born in the West Bank town of Salfit and joined the nascent Hamas as a student in 1987, was released in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange in which more than 1,000 Palestinians, including Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas chief in Gaza, were freed in return for one Israeli soldier. Since then he has lived in Istanbul, where he has had a number of roles in Hamas, including overseeing the financing of its operations, as well as being a member of its political bureau.
In 2019 he was sanctioned by the US government for his part in a money-laundering operation that allowed Hamas to raise vast sums.
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He was the deputy of Saleh al-Arouri, the chief of Hamas operations in the West Bank, who was assassinated on January 2 in an Israeli drone attack on a Hamas office in Beirut. Jabarin has since replaced Arouri, though he seems so far not to have orchestrated any big attacks in the West Bank or Israel. Since Arouri’s death the Hamas faction representing the West Bank has largely been marginalised by the more influential Gazan faction, which now occupies the senior leadership positions.
Last month The Times reported that Israeli intelligence had found documents in Gaza setting out a plan by Hamas to establish a clandestine base in Turkey for directing operations against Israeli targets including “officers and commanders in Mossad”.
According to internal Hamas documents, Sinwar discussed the possibility of setting up the base before the October 7 attacks last year.
Turkey, a Nato member, has become one of Hamas’s most ardent supporters since the war began and has announced a suspension of trade with Israel. President Erdogan has hosted Hamas leaders and condemned Israel in a number of speeches, saying that Binyamin Netanyahu “has reached a level that would make Hitler jealous with his genocidal methods”.
The government in Ankara has not responded to Shin Bet’s claim.
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A western intelligence official said: “Hamas is transforming Istanbul, under Erdogan’s nose, into a modern version of 1980’s Beirut with warring terrorist factions. When the Turks wake up, it may be too late. And it’s not just the Turks who should be worried. This could be a base for carrying out terror attacks throughout Europe.”
While allowing Hamas to open offices and fundraise in Turkey, the Erdogan government has denied that it allow the movement to direct military operations from its territory. In some cases it has cracked down on Hamas operatives it suspected of being behind such operations.
