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Hamas Would Not Have been Able to Launch the Oct. 7 Massacre without Iran's Financial and Military Backing

(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - On June 14, 2007, Hamas staged a violent coup against the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Gaza. It lasted for a few days and resulted in the death of hundreds of PA loyalists, some of whom were lynched in public squares, while others were thrown from the top floors of high-rise buildings. The Hamas takeover of Gaza could not have taken place without Iran's financial and military support. Former PA General Intelligence Chief Tawfik Tirawi said dozens of Hamas members had received military training in Iran. Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid noted that Hamas was able to defeat the security forces of the PA in Gaza partly as a result of training and weapons provided from Iran. According to a 2020 U.S. State Department report, Iran provides $100 million annually to Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas. As of 2023, according to an Israeli security source, Iran had significantly increased its funding for Hamas to $350 million a year. The late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told Al-Jazeera in 2022, our "long-range rockets came from abroad, from Iran, Syria and others through Egypt." Were it not for Iran's financial and military backing, Hamas would not have been able to launch its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel. Unsurprisingly, Iran was quick to praise the massacres. The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
2025-06-19 00:00:00
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