Hamas Haven Provided by Turkey Fuels Terror in the West Bank

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency announced that it had foiled dozens of planned terror attacks in the West Bank directed by Hamas operatives in Turkey over the past year.

According to the agency, operatives at the headquarters of Hamas in the West Bank have been “directing and advancing extensive military activity into Judea and Samaria and Israel from Turkish soil, including recruiting operatives to carry out attacks and transferring weapons and funds into the area.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has a long record of operational and political support for Hamas, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, even permitting senior leaders such as the late Ismail Haniyeh to reside there. The terrorist organization has used its presence in Turkey as a functional base for its actions in the West Bank through recruitment and the transfer of funds to terror cells.

Hamas Operatives Released in 2011 Deal Roam Freely in Turkey

A closer look at the Turkey-based Hamas cell identified on June 21 reveals that most of its operatives were released in the 2011 deal in which IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas in June 2006, was exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian and Arab-Israeli prisoners.

Their number includes Walid Abu Nasser, also known as Walid al-Zir, who is from Bethlehem. In 2025, he was part of a Hamas delegation that visited Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in Egypt, alongside Majed Ja’aba, another individual identified by the Shin Bet as facilitating Hamas terror attacks in the West Bank. Israel alleges that Abu Nasser/al-Zir funds Hamas networks in Bethlehem.

Ja’aba was also released as part of the Shalit deal. In 2017, the Shin Bet claimed that Ja’aba, while living in the Gaza Strip, helped coordinate the transfer of funds from Turkey to Hamas cells in Hebron. Israeli authorities now allege that Ja’aba helped facilitate the transfer of weapons to a Hamas cell in Hebron that carried out the November 2023 Tunnels Checkpoint attack, which killed an IDF soldier.

Others identified include Muhammad Mallah, another Hamas operative released in the Shalit deal, who is originally from Tulkarem. Mallah was sent to Syria following his release in 2011 and then to Qatar. There is also Salam Yaish, a Hamas operative from Nablus who operates from Turkey and is allegedly recruiting operatives in his hometown to carry out attacks in the West Bank. In 2025, the Israel Defense Forces warned residents in Nablus against contact with Yaish. Finally, there is Ayman Sharawna, also released through the Shalit deal, who was arrested by the IDF in 2002 for plotting an attack in the Israeli city of Beersheba.

Turkey and Hamas: Partners in Terror

In 2014, Saleh al-Arouri, the late former deputy leader of Hamas, took advantage of Ankara’s permissive environment to finance and order the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank. The abduction triggered a 50-day operation named “Protective Edge” in Gaza against the terror group.

Israeli security services have also alleged that Hamas worked with the Turkey-based IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a charity with close links to the government in Ankara, to access advanced satellite-mapping tools to improve the accuracy of Hamas rockets targeting Israel.

Moreover, in September 2023 — just weeks before the October 7 atrocities in Israel that resulted in the murder of more than 1,200 Israelis, alongside widespread rape and the kidnapping of 251 hostages — Israeli customs seized 16 tons of explosive material shipped from Turkey to Gaza concealed among construction supplies.

Washington Must Continue Targeting Hamas Operatives in Turkey

 Washington should continue using its counterterrorism authorities, like Executive Order 13224, to target those in Turkey enabling Hamas financing, recruitment, and West Bank operations, starting with the cell identified by the Shin Bet.

Other Turkey-based organizations also warrant scrutiny, including the Association of Jerusalem and Our History, also known as KUTAD, a Hamas-linked front run by Jihad Yaghmour, a U.S.-designated Hamas official in Turkey. Yaghmour has hosted senior Hamas delegations and allegedly handled covert activity for the group.

Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow and director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Ahmad Sharawi is a senior research analyst. For more analysis from the authors and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Sinan and Ahmad on X @SinanCiddi and @AhmadA_Sharawi. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on foreign policy and national security.