Sami Abu Zuhri

Sami Abu Zuhri (سامي أبو زُهْري; born 1967)[1] is a senior spokesman for the Palestinian organization Hamas.

Sami Abu Zuhri
سامي أبو زُهْري
Senior spokesman
Personal details
Born1967 (age 58–59)
Rafah, Gaza Strip
PartyHamas

Life

Abu Zuhri was born in Rafah in 1967. He studied history at the Islamic University of Gaza and served as head of the Islamic University Student Council from 1994 to 1997. He got his MA in history in 2004.

Career in Hamas

In May 2006, while travelling from Egypt to the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security and customs officials at the Rafah Border Crossing discovered 640,000 euros on his person (equivalent to $USD800,000), which had not been declared and was in excess of the $USD2,000 permitted. The money was confiscated from Abu Zuhri, who was returning from Qatar after he dropped a concealed money belt containing what was described by Reuters as "donations from Arab nations to the Palestinian government and it was meant to pay for prisoners in Israeli jails". Abu Zuhri was allowed to enter Gaza without the money, which was handed over to the Ministry of Interior. President Mahmoud Abbas requested an investigation into the incident.[2][3][4]

Abu Zuhri stated his objection to the inclusion of what he referred to as the "so-called Holocaust" in the proposed UNRWA lesson plan for students in Gaza. He continued "we think it's more important to teach Palestinians the crimes of the Israeli occupation."[5]

When Marwan Qawasmahi and Amer Abu Aisha, the suspected perpetrators of the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in 2014, were killed by Israel, he said "Hamas praises the role the martyrs played in chasing down Israeli settlers and we stress that their assassination will not weaken the resistance".[6]

In December 2014, Abu Zuhri reportedly harassed a Gaza-based foreign female reporter and was being investigated by Hamas.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ Sami Abu Zuhri Personal Info
  2. ↑ Waked, Ali. Ynet Archived 2006-11-18 at the Wayback Machine 19 May 2006 Hamas spokesman caught smuggling cash
  3. ↑ "President orders Hamas cash probe", BBC, May 19, 2006. Accessed August 16, 2026. "The cash, worth more than $800,000 (£427,000), was initially confiscated and the man, Sami Abu Zuhri, detained. After frantic talks, Mr Zuhri was freed and Hamas said the cash would go to the interior ministry, which it controls."
  4. ↑ "Cash confiscated from Hamas official", Al Jazeera English, May 19, 2006. Accessed August 16, 2026. "Julio de la Guardia, a spokesman for the European Union observation force at Rafah terminal, said Sami Abu Zuhri had tried to cross into the Gaza Strip with the money but was detained and the cash confiscated. He added that travellers cannot carry more than $2,000 without declaring it to the authorities.... Reuters reported Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas politician, as saying Abu Zuhri was carrying 'donations from Arab nations to the Palestinian government and it was meant to pay for prisoners in Israeli jails'. Abu Zuhri was returning from Qatar."
  5. ↑ Hadid, Diaa (August 31, 2009). "Hamas leader denies Nazi genocide of Jews". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on September 4, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Israel says its troops kill Hamas men accused of slaying teens". Reuters. September 23, 2014 – via www.reuters.com.
  7. ↑ "Hamas spokesman said to have harassed female foreign reporter". The Times of Israel. 7 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "Hamas spokesman accused of sexual harassment". i24news. 7 December 2014.
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