Since Qassem Soleimani’s timely death, Hamas has been scrambling to ensure that they continue to get weapons and money from Iran as they did before. Hamas publicized its mourner’s tent in Gaza and issued press releases mourning their great benefactor.
Hamas’ relationship with Iran has always been rocky, though. It refused to fully back Iran in Syria and has shown itself to be closer to Turkey than Iran, backing Turkey’s occupation of parts of northern Syria against Iranian wishes.
Palestinian media has been showing this photo of Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh at Soleimani’s funeral, showing that he was not allowed to be in the front row as the VIPs were.
There were also (probably false) rumors that Haniyeh snarkily complained that Soleimani’s Quds Force, named for Jerusalem, fought in Syria to Iraq and Lebanon and even Yemen but never did a thing to fight Israel. (I’ve seen other Palestinians make that point but Haniyeh is a bit too smart to say that out loud.)
Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah, a much more reliable ally of Tehran, also rushed to attend the funeral. I can’t see where he was placed.
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