The top political and diplomatic brass of the terror organization Hamas all live and operate outside of the Gaza Strip, the Military Intelligence Directorate said on Monday.
The IDF listed over a quarter of Hamas officials, including top official Ismail Haniyeh, as operating outside Gaza, including in Iran, Qatar, Lebanon, and Turkey.
Who of Hamas's top branch live outside Gaza - and why?
Haniyeh, who met with Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday, is head of Hamas's political bureau, which operates from the Qatari capital of Doha.
The Hamas leadership's responsibilities abroad are divided into three sectors - the West Bank, the Strip, and foreign affairs. The Intelligence Directorate said that "it is working nonstop to understand, map and locate" the leaders.
Some of Hamas's foreign affairs chiefs operate outside in various countries that do not have an official Hamas presence, fundraising and directing terror, the IDF reported.
These officials also carry heavy influence over the terror organization's Shura council, which is made up of representatives from the three branches of operation, as well as representatives of Palestinian terrorists jailed in Israeli prisons.
This way, Hamas leaders such as Haniyeh, former head Khaled Mashaal, his deputy Moussa Abu Marzouk and former interior minister Fathi Hamad are all able to manipulate the daily happening on the ground in Gaza and redirect the most critical needs of Gazan civilians to the terror organization's hands.
The Jerusalem Post also reported last month that Muhammad Qassem Sawalha, a Hamas terrorist who ran operations in the West Bank, has been enjoying life in a state-funded home in London.
Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, who is also in charge of Hamas's West Bank wing, currently operates in Lebanon.
According to the IDF, Arouri, along with other leaders abroad, spearheads terror activities against Israelis and other targets in Muslim countries as well as in Muslim communities in the West.