According to a report, published by the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, the deputy director of Hamas’ Political Bureau, Moussa Abu Marzuk, held a secret one-on-one meeting with Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. According to the report, the two discussed the severed relations between Regional Arab Powers and the main backer of Hamas, Qatar, and the influence of this development on the armed Palestinian factions, mainly in the Gaza Strip. Qatar’s deteriorating situation, because of its regional isolation, has forced the Islamist Hamas organization to bolster its alliance with the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Following intensive meetings between senior Hamas officials and their Iranian counterparts, including high-ranking members of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Islamic Republic announced that it would resume financial aid to the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip. According to Western defense officials, one of the key principles of the agreement between Hamas and Iran, was to establish a third Iranian-backed front from the Gaza Strip against Israel.
The Gazan front would operate in parallel with the Syrian and Lebanese fronts, where Iranian-backed militias are bolstering both their defensive and offensive capabilities. The officials further noted that “The three fronts would challenge Israel’s ability to effectively defend its ‘Home Front’, as it would have to deal with tens of thousands of rockets fired at it simultaneously from Syria and Lebanon in the north and the Gaza Strip in the south.”