Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last week ordered the expulsion of Hamas leaders from Qatar as criticism of the soverign country for supporting terrorism piles up, Haaretz reports.
The United States, Israel and the European Union all consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization and last week Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed ties with Qatar and accused it of supporting terrorism.
Two of the officials who left were Saleh al-Arouri, a military commander overseeing West Bank terror cells and Musa Dudin, who founded a Gaza cell responsible for the planning of terror attacks in the West Bank.
Former Israeli National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror told i24NEWS that outgoing Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was one of the five leaders who left Qatar.
"It is in Abbas' interest to weaken Hamas, which is receiving funding and support from Qatar," he said.
Qatar said its hand was forced in carrying out Abbas' orders.
Hamas spokesman Husam Badran told Haaretz the report was false.
"There are a number of media outlets that release false information about Hamas in order to hurt the organization's image and influence its foreign relations," he said.
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