Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, July 26, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Palestinian Presidents’ Office

A bipartisan group of 113 members of the US Congress has penned a new letter to President Joe Biden urging him to pressure Qatar and Turkey to cut off their support for Hamas and expel the Palestinian terror group’s leadership.

The letter — led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Don Bacon (R-NE), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), and Claudia Tenney (R-NY) —noted that despite Turkey and Qatar’s support for Hamas, both countries remain US allies.

“The United States must also put significant pressure on Qatar and Türkiye [sic] to cease their support for Hamas and expel Hamas leadership that they host,” the letter read. “[Hamas political chief] Ismail Haniyeh, the leader behind Hamas’ deadliest-ever attack on Israel, sits comfortably in Qatar, a US strategic partner in [the region.] The country’s links to Hamas and recent statement blaming Israel for the ongoing war are simply unacceptable.”

The lawmakers added that Turkey, a NATO ally, “continues to house Hamas leadership and provide both diplomatic and financial support to the organization,” concluding that both Qatar and Turkey “should cease all ties with Hamas, and continue to work with the United States to stabilize the region.”

Qatar and Turkey host senior Hamas officials, and together with Iran have provided an enormous portion of the Palestinian terrorist group’s estimated $300 million annual budget in recent years.

Regarding Iran, the 133 US House members also called on the Biden administration to hold the Iranian regime accountable for funding Hamas and other terrorist groups.

“We urge the administration to take all necessary steps to cut off Iranian funding sources,” the letter said. “This includes maximum enforcement of all US sanctions, and taking any and all steps to end Iran’s oil trade to China, which currently brings in $150 million per day in revenue.”

A growing number of critics in both major US political parties have urged the Biden administration to more strictly enforce US sanctions on Iran, including by re-freezing a $6 billion payment transferred to Iran as part of a prisoner swap agreement last month.

Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday met with his Qatari counterpart shortly before meeting with Haniyeh in Doha. Images published by Iran on social media depicted the Iranian foreign minister smiling and kissing the terrorist leader.

The letter, signed by 63 Democrats and 50 Republicans, also appeared to implicitly oppose a House resolution introduced on Monday by far-left Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), a staunch critic of Israel, that called for a ceasefire. 

“Premature de-escalation would be a victory for the terrorists, and allow them to continue to threaten Israeli civilians with future attacks,” it said.

The House letter’s backing for Israel’s right to defend itself echoed a Senate resolution introduced on Monday that was co-sponsored by 99 senators. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who frequently has libertarian foreign policy views, was the only senator who did not endorse the resolution.

US lawmakers have called for extra pressure on Hamas after the terror group, which controls the Gaza Strip, invaded Israel earlier this month and massacred over 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians.