Sheikh Hamad: The First Arab Leader To Visit Gaza After Israel's Blockade

The death of Qatar’s Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani has brought renewed attention to his support for the Palestinian cause, particularly his 2012 visit to the Gaza Strip, which came amid Israel’s crippling international blockade of the enclave.

According to Al Jazeera, Sheikh Hamad is remembered not only as a regional leader but also as the first Arab leader to visit Gaza after Israel imposed the blockade following the 2006 Palestinian elections. His visit and Qatar’s subsequent financial support for reconstruction projects have remained central to his legacy.

In October 2012, six years after Israel imposed its crippling international blockade on Gaza, Sheikh Hamad travelled to the enclave with his wife, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, and a high-level delegation. The visit bypassed the political isolation imposed on the territory by Western powers and regional actors, drawing a massive official and popular reception.

The head of Hamas’s diaspora office, Khaled Meshaal, told Al Jazeera that the visit to the Strip means that “Jerusalem, Gaza and Palestine mourn him.”

“He was the first Arab and Muslim leader to visit Gaza, standing by its side with chivalry and magnanimity, as if officially announcing the breaking of the siege in its darkest circumstances,” Meshaal told Al Jazeera. “He was intelligent, brave and a man of principles.”

During the visit, Sheikh Hamad announced an increase in Qatar’s reconstruction grant to Gaza from $254m to $400m, laying the foundation for housing, infrastructure and healthcare projects that benefited thousands of Palestinians.

Addressing crowds at the Islamic University of Gaza, which awarded him and Sheikha Moza honorary doctorates for their humanitarian efforts, Sheikh Hamad praised the resilience of the Palestinian people while criticising the international community’s double standards.

Al Jazeera reported that Sheikh Hamad’s support for Palestine predated the blockade on Gaza. In 1999, he became the first Gulf leader to visit the Palestinian territories since 1967, meeting the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat during a critical political impasse.

Ahmed al-Sheikh, a senior journalist, Arab affairs commentator and former news director at Al Jazeera Arabic Channel, said the Father Emir had “a special kind of love for Palestine”.

“Has any other leader in the Arab world done that [visit to Gaza], except Hamad bin Khalifa?” al-Sheikh reflected in a recent interview.

“Why did he go to Gaza? It’s because he saw that everyone around Gaza is neglecting it”, he added.

Al-Sheikh said Sheikh Hamad viewed the Palestinian struggle through a deeply personal lens. When former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon besieged Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah, the emir was profoundly pained and told his aides that when Sharon attacked the Muqata’a, it felt as though he was attacking Qatar itself.

His connection to Palestine was also shaped by his regret that he had never visited Jerusalem before its occupation in 1967. According to al-Sheikh, that prompted him to commission an extensive three-hour documentary on the holy city to capture its history and identity.

Rather than relying solely on international intervention, Sheikh Hamad believed the Palestinian people themselves were the essential spearhead of their movement. “You will do the primary action and without this action there can be no liberation,” the emir once told al-Sheikh.

His position frequently put him at odds with the regional consensus. During Israel’s 2008–2009 war on Gaza, divisions emerged among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members over how to respond to the conflict.

As reported by Al Jazeera, Sheikh Hamad called for an emergency Arab summit in Doha, proposing a $250m reconstruction fund and a maritime corridor to bypass the blockade. He publicly expressed disappointment over the lack of an Arab quorum for the emergency meeting, saying on live television: “God is sufficient for us and he is the best disposer of affairs.”

Some of Gaza’s most vital infrastructure projects before the outbreak of Israel’s war in October 2023 resulted from financial pledges made by Sheikh Hamad. Qatar funded the rehabilitation of key highways and the flagship Sheikh Hamad City in Khan Younis, a $58m public housing project comprising 53 modern apartment buildings for thousands of low-income families.

Qatar also financed the Sheikh Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, which officially opened in April 2019 and became the territory’s main facility for amputees and children with hearing impairments.

Israel’s war on Gaza has systematically erased much of the infrastructure Qatar helped finance during Sheikh Hamad’s leadership. Satellite imagery from May showed that Hamad City and other areas in southern Gaza had been wiped from the map.

The Sheikh Hamad Hospital resumed its vital services last December despite direct attacks, severe shortages and the broader collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system. Operating the only CT scanner in northern Gaza, the hospital has also opened a new branch in the south to cope with a 225 per cent increase in amputation cases.

The continued operation of Sheikh Hamad Hospital during the war remains a tangible remnant of Sheikh Hamad’s efforts in the besieged enclave. His support for Gaza will remain for generations to come.

(With inputs from Al Jazeera)