Overview

Samakh Saraj is a Gaza-based senior official in Hamas’s military leadership. Saraj directs Hamas’s cyberwarfare and counterintelligence unit in Istanbul, Turkey. He mainly reports to Yahya Sinwar, a senior Hamas leader with ties to the group’s political and military wings.

Unknown to the Turkish government, in 2018, Hamas set up a headquarters in Istanbul to carry out cyberwarfare and counterintelligence operations to target their enemies. The unit, which is run by Saraj who then reports to Sinwar, is separate from Hamas’s official offices. Saraj reportedly directs the unit’s activities from Gaza.Anshel Pfeffer, “Hamas uses secret cyberwar base in Turkey to target enemies,” The Times, October 22, 2020, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hamas-running-secret-cyberwar-hq-in-turkey-29mz50sxs.

Hamas continues to wage a vengeful campaign against Israel, and on October 7, 2023, a day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war, Hamas launched a massive attack on Israel that included hundreds of Hamas fighters ambushing more than a dozen Israeli communities and military bases within 15 miles of the Gaza border. Hamas militants also launched thousands of rockets reaching as far as Tel Aviv.Ammar Awad and Maayan Lubell, “Gunmen in homes, captives abducted leave Israelis in shock,” Reuters, October 7, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gunmen-homes-captives-abducted-gaza-leave-israelis-shock-2023-10-07/. At least 800 people in Israel were killed and more than 1,000 were wounded in the first three days. Israel retaliated with airstrikes on in Gaza and on October 8, issued an official declaration of war.Tia Goldenberg and Wafaa Shurafa, “Israel declares war, bombards Gaza and battles to dislodge Hamas fighters after surprise attack,” Associated Press, October 8, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-rockets-airstrikes-tel-aviv-ca7903976387cfc1e1011ce9ea805a71.

Sources close to Hamas later told Reuters the group prepared for the operation for two years by constructing and training in mock settlements in Gaza.Samia Nakhoul and Jonathan Saul, “How Israel was duped as Hamas planned devastating assault,” Reuters, October 8, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-israel-was-duped-hamas-planned-devastating-assault-2023-10-08/. The Wall Street Journal reported several senior Hamas and Hezbollah sources confirmed the participation of officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in planning the attack in meetings in Beirut in August 2023. According to those officials, the IRGC had provided a greenlight for the attack in September.Ammar Awad and Maayan Lubell, “Gunmen in homes, captives abducted leave Israelis in shock,” Reuters, October 7, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gunmen-homes-captives-abducted-gaza-leave-israelis-shock-2023-10-07/; Samia Nakhoul and Jonathan Saul, “How Israel was duped as Hamas planned devastating assault,” Reuters, October 8, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-israel-was-duped-hamas-planned-devastating-assault-2023-10-08/; Hadas Gold, Abeer Salman, Kareem Khadder, Paul P. Murphy, Allegra Goodwin, Benjamin Brown, and Sophie Tanno, “Festivalgoers, children, soldiers: What we know about the people captured by Hamas,” CNN, October 9, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/08/europe/israel-hostages-hamas-what-we-know-intl/index.html; Summer Said, Benoit Faucon, and Stephen Kalin, “Iran Helped Plot Attack on Israel Over Several Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, October 8, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-israel-hamas-strike-planning-bbe07b25.