Little-known Hamas leader seen behind resurgence of West Bank suicide bombings
Analysts say Istanbul-based Zaher Jabarin, now in charge of West Bank terror activity, seeking to prove mettle with return to high-profile attacks
Zaher Jabarin is now in charge of West Bank terror activity
In late August, former Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal delivered a speech in which he declared the terror group’s intent to revive suicide bombings by West Bank Palestinians against Israelis.
Over the next four days, a pair of car bombs went off in a West Bank settlement bloc south of Jerusalem and a suspected third one was neutralized at the entrance to another settlement north of Ramallah. Weeks earlier, a suicide bomber walking the streets of Tel Aviv was killed when the explosive device he carried in his backpack detonated by accident.
Though relatively ineffectual — four Israelis suffered non-life threatening wounds — the bombings still managed to send a fiery signal that the terror group was attempting to flip the calendar back two decades to the days when suicide bombings were its hallmark.
At the forefront of orchestrating these attacks is Zaher Jabarin, Hamas’s newly appointed leader in the West Bank, analysts say.
Jabarin assumed the position following the assassination of his predecessor, Saleh al-Arouri, in Beirut in early January.
Based in Istanbul, Jabarin remains a lesser-known figure among Hamas’s senior command, though his background mirrors that of more prominent leaders such as Yahya Sinwar and al-Arouri.
Born in Salfit in the central West Bank in 1969, Jabarin joined a then-fledgling Hamas in the late 1980s, playing a crucial role in expanding the group’s armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, into the northern West Bank.
He was arrested by Israeli forces in 1993 and sentenced to life imprisonment, but was later among over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in the 2011 deal to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from captivity in Gaza.
Like Sinwar and al-Arouri, Jabarin is fluent in Hebrew thanks to the nearly two decades he spent in Israeli prison, and he is thought to possess a deep understanding of Israeli society. But in contrast to them, Jabarin, who was exiled to Syria, has remained largely behind the scenes and is unknown by most Israelis.
“Unlike Sinwar or al-Arouri, Jabarin is not viewed as particularly sophisticated or charismatic within Hamas, nor as a clever or brave leader,” said Michael Milshtein, head of the Forum for Palestinian Studies at the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University. “This makes him eager to prove his capabilities, especially in light of the legacy of his predecessor.”
From his base in Istanbul, Jabarin is believed to be orchestrating a new wave of suicide attacks from the West Bank, seeking to strike at Israel’s core as its capabilities in Gaza have been heavily reduced. While no car bombs or suicide attacks have been reported for the past two weeks, experts believe that the wave has not ended.
Suicide attacks were a hallmark of Hamas operations in the 1990s and early 2000s, with Jabarin himself recruiting the notorious Yahya Ayyash, known as “the Engineer.” An expert bombmaker responsible for multiple deadly attacks in the mid-1990s, Ayyash was assassinated by Israel in 1996.
In the years since the end of the Second Intifada, Hamas appeared to move away from a focus on bombings, which require sophisticated planning and organization to carry out, though there have still been sporadic attacks with explosives.
In the last decades, the group has concentrated on building up its rocket capabilities and underground fortifications in Gaza and on shooting, ramming and knife attacks from the West Bank.
According to Milshtein, Jabarin’s turn back toward bombings comes amid frustration within Hamas over West Bank Palestinians’ failure since October 7 to join in the fight against Israel.
“Since the first day of the war, Yahya Sinwar has repeatedly called for opening a second front in the West Bank,” he said. “Yet despite nearly a year of conflict in Gaza, the West Bank has remained relatively calm. There’s now pressure to show that Hamas in the West Bank can contribute to the broader effort.”
Israeli officials believe Jabarin was responsible for dispatching Hamas operative Jaafar Muna from Nablus to Tel Aviv on August 18 with a large explosive device intended for a suicide attack, according to veteran Arab affairs commentator Yoni Ben Menachem, a senior analyst for the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs.
Following the failed Tel Aviv bombing, Hamas shared propaganda posters on social media featured posters depicting Ayyash’s image alongside bombed-out buses with the slogan: “Who will restore Ayyash’s glory?”
While the three attempted bombings in August were the first to come close to succeeding in years, the threat has never really subsided, experts say.
“The motivation and capacity for these operations never went away, as evidenced by the discovery of multiple explosive factories by the IDF in the West Bank over the years,” said Guy Aviad, a Hamas expert and a former IDF historian. “Fortunately, many were thwarted.”
Money man with a nod from Erdogan
Jabarin’s influence extends beyond military operations. As the longtime head of Hamas’s Financial Bureau, which like him is based in Turkey, he controls millions of dollars that are funneled into terrorist activities, particularly in the West Bank.
After his release in 2011, Jabarin was exiled to Syria, then in the throes of civil war. Like other Hamas leaders who decamped from Damascus, Jabarin spent years living between Qatar and Turkey, ultimately settling in Istanbul.
There, he assumed leadership of the Financial Bureau and acted as deputy to al-Arouri, who lived in Istanbul until 2016.
Under Jabarin’s management, the department has invested substantial sums in Turkish real estate and stock markets, while laundering profits through a network of money changers in Turkey, Lebanon, and the Gulf, Aviad said.
These funds are then channeled to Hamas operatives in the West Bank and Gaza, Aviad said.
Hamas also benefits from donations collected by Islamic charity organizations based in Europe, North America, and other parts of the world.
Hamas’s lucrative financial operations in Turkey have flourished with the tacit approval of the Turkish government under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“You cannot run a Hamas office in Turkey without government consent,” Aviad noted.
Turkey’s willingness to harbor Hamas leaders has long been a major point of contention affecting ties between Ankara and Jerusalem. In December, Turkey reportedly warned Israel of “serious consequences” if it targeted Hamas operatives on Turkish soil.
With Erdogan’s protection, Hamas can operate largely freely in Turkey, where the group has situated some of its most vital branches.
Before Jabarin, al-Arouri was thought to have directed and helped finance terror activity in the West Bank from Turkey, including the 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens, which sparked a large Israeli crackdown in the West Bank and a devastating war in Gaza.
In addition to Hamas’s Financial Bureau, Turkey also hosts part of the terror group’s technological arm, responsible for developing military capabilities for Hamas units in the Palestinian territories. (The other part is in Lebanon.)
According to a 2021 report by the Alma Research Center, a note from a Hamas cell revealed that hundreds of thousands of dollars and euros transited through this bureau using money changers and were intended for use in training camps and to conduct a sniper course.
As Hamas suffers heavy losses in Gaza, experts predict that Jabarin’s position within Hamas will grow in importance, particularly as he pushes to rekindle high-profile suicide bombings from the West Bank.
“One year ago, he was not at the top echelons,” said Milshtein. “But today, I’d say he is one of the top five leaders of Hamas, especially after the death of Muhammad Deif, Marwan Issa, Ismail Haniyeh and Saleh al-Arouri. He is the one responsible for the second most important arena after Gaza. He has become very prominent.”
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