Hamas chief to remain outside Gaza for months — deputy

GAZA CITY — The leader of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas will remain outside the Gaza Strip, the group runs, for up to a year, a senior official said Tuesday.

Ismail Haniyeh left Gaza in December on his first major foreign tour since taking over as the group's leader in 2017.

He has since visited Turkey, Egypt and Malaysia as well as Iran, for the funeral of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, killed by a US air strike in Iraq.

"Haniyeh will remain abroad and continue to run Hamas until he has completed all the tasks and all the goals of his foreign tour," the movement's deputy chief Khalil Al Hayya told journalists.

The trip could last up to a year, he said.

Haniyeh is currently in the Gulf state of Qatar, which is a longtime Hamas ally and allied to the Muslim Brotherhood, in which Hamas has its ideological roots.

The Hamas leader left Gaza via Egypt, the only state apart from Israel to border Gaza.

Hayya admitted the Iranian visit had caused tensions with Egypt, which is allied with Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia.

"Our brothers in Egypt rebuked us for visiting Iran, but [Hamas] has its own independent stance," Hayya said, saying the visit strengthened "the relationship between Hamas and Iran."