Dubai: Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Tuesday denied reports that its leader Khaled Meshaal has been expelled from Qatar.
There is no truth to what some media outlets have published over the departure by brother Khaled Meshaal from Doha, Hamas official Ezzat Al Rishq said by telephone.
Another Hamas source confirmed that Meshaal was still in Doha.
The Israeli regimes foreign ministry issued a statement on Tuesday praising Qatar for kicking out Meshaal. It said the decision came after heavy lobbying by Israel, which considers Hamas to be a terrorist group.
Its Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman pushed over the last few years a number of processes in both covert and overt channels with Qatar itself and other nations to bring about the situation in which Qatar would take such a step and halt its assistance to Hamas, both directly and indirectly, reported Haaretz.
Hamas belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood umbrella group, which is considered by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as a terrorist group. The unconfirmed reports said Meshaal may move his base to Tehran.