Senior Hamas operatives are plotting attacks against Israel from Istanbul, amid meetings between the terrorist group's leaders and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, according to news reports Wednesday.
Transcripts of Israeli police interrogations with suspects show that the Hamas operatives are directing operations in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank from Istanbul, The Telegraph reports.
One such plot included a failed assassination attempt of then Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat in February.
"Israel is extremely concerned that Turkey is allowing Hamas terrorists to operate from its territory, in planning and engaging in terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians," the Israeli Foreign Ministry told the Telegraph.
Despite repeated disclosures from Israel to Turkey about Hamas, President Erdoğan met Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas last weekend, according to the report.
In addition, Turkish intelligence agents maintain close dealings with Hamas operatives in Istanbul.
"We will keep on supporting our brothers in Palestine," Erdoğan told the Telegraph.
In 2015, Turkey agreed in a U.S.-brokered deal with Israel to bar Hamas from planning attacks in the country, but Israeli officials said it has consistently failed to honor the agreement.
Turkey is also under scrutiny from Western allies over its support for extremist rebels in northern Syria and about its commitment to NATO after buying a Russian missile system, the Telegraph reports.
Hamas enjoys safe harbor in Istanbul by the Turkish government, even as Saudi Arabia and other Arab states have aligned themselves more closely with Israel.
The United States and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist group — and its military wing has a similar designation by the UK.
In addition, Saleh al-Aruri, the group's deputy leader, has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head. He travels freely to Turkey without fear of arrest, the Telegraph reports.
A dozen operatives have relocated to Istanbul from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in the past year, according to Israeli and Egyptian intelligence records.
They include Abdel Rahman Ghanimat, the former leader of a Hamas squad responsible for numerous suicide bombings, including a 1997 attack on the Café Apropo in Tel Aviv, which killed three women.
Kamal Awad, a Hamas financier recently sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, also recently moved to Istanbul, the Telegraph reports.
But a Turkish diplomatic source denied that Hamas was planning attacks from Istanbul.
The group, he said, was "not a terrorist organization" but a legitimate Palestinian political party.
Hamas also denied planning attacks from Turkey, dismissing Israeli complaints as "baseless allegations" designed to damage relations with Istanbul.
"Hamas' resistance activities are conducted only in the land of occupied Palestine," a spokesman told the Telegraph.
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