Tel Aviv, Sep 30 (IANS) Israel's Foreign Ministry on Monday claimed that the official Hamas documents recovered in the Gaza Strip revealed the terror group's direct involvement in the funding and execution of the 'Sumud' flotilla bound for Gaza. The Global Sumud Flotilla, comprising about 50 civilian vessels and participants from over 40 countries, aims to challenge Israel's naval blockade imposed since 2007 and deliver food and medical aid to Palestinians.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Monday released part of the Hamas documents along with translations and images showing some of the flotilla's organisers alongside senior Hamas leaders. "Hamas documents that were discovered in the Gaza Strip, and are being revealed for the first time, show a direct link between the flotilla leaders and the Hamas terrorist organisation. While Hamas in the Gaza Strip is responsible for what happens inside the Strip, Hamas Abroad is responsible for activity outside the Gaza Strip, with emphasis on the Palestinian Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) organisation, which is subordinate to Hamas and serves as a wing of the movement," read a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

According to the statement, the PCPA was established in 2018 and functions as Hamas' representative body abroad, operating de facto as Hamas' embassies. The organisation, it said, operates under the pretense of civilian cover and is responsible, on behalf of Hamas, for mobilising actions against Israel, including violent demonstrations, marches against Israel, and demonstration and provocation flotillas. "The first official Hamas document was found in the Gaza Strip - a letter from 2021 signed by Head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, directly and explicitly calling on the PCPA chairman for unity. In the letter, Haniyeh publicly endorses the PCPA organization. It should be noted that Israel designated the PCPA as a terrorist organisation in 2021 due to it being a wing of Hamas," the Ministry stated.

It stressed that the second official Hamas document is a list of PCPA operatives, some of whom are high-ranking, well-known Hamas operatives. "Among the names on the list are Zaher Birawi, who serves as Head of the PCPA’s Hamas sector in the UK, and who is known as a leader of the demonstration flotillas to the Gaza Strip over the past 15 years (number 19 in the document), and Saif Abu Kashk (number 25 in the document), an operative from the organization in Spain. This document was found in a Hamas outpost in the Gaza Strip and proves again their direct connection between the flotilla leaders and Hamas," the statement detailed. "In addition to being a Hamas-aligned PCPA operative, Abu Kashk is the CEO of Cyber Neptune, a front company in Spain that owns dozens of the ships participating in the 'Sumud' flotilla. Thus, these ships are secretly owned by Hamas," it added.