The American State Department announced last night (Monday) that it has reports indicating the transfer of senior Hamas officials from Qatar to Turkey, Reuters news agency reported.
According to Reuters, in a statement on behalf of the US State Department it was clarified: “We do not believe that the leaders of a terrorist organization should live comfortably anywhere. We will make it clear to the Turkish government that there is no place for a ‘business as usual’ approach with Hamas.”
According to the report, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller did not confirm the reports but said he could not dispute them. Miller added that a number of Hamas leaders are under American indictment, and Washington believes they should be handed over to the US.
As a reminder, about a month ago, Qatar, which hosted senior Hamas officials in Doha since 2012, announced that it would stop acting as a mediator in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Following this, Qatar informed the terrorist organization Hamas that it had to close its diplomatic office in Doha, this after threats on the subject throughout the negotiations.