Bassem Naim

Basem Naim is one of the leaders of the Hamas movement, a former minister in Hamas governments in the Gaza Strip, and a member of the Political Bureau residing in Qatar. Born in 1963 in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Palestine in 1979 and completed his secondary education in Gaza in 1981. He later moved to Germany, where he was responsible for the Muslim Students Association and the Islamic Palestine League in Erlangen, and completed a bachelor's degree in medicine in 1992. Between 2000 and 2006, he worked at the Ministry of Health in Gaza, served as head of union activities in the health sector within Hamas, and chaired the Palestinian Medical Forum. He was also responsible for the Hamas Election Committee from 2004 to 2006. In 2006, he was appointed Minister of Health in the Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip, and in 2007 he was appointed Minister of Youth and Sports. Following Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, he held the positions of Minister of Interior, Information, Prisoners, Youth and Sports, and Health. From 2012 to 2014, he served as an advisor on international affairs to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and in 2014 he was appointed Chairman of Hamas’ Council for International Relations. In 2021, he was elected as a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau in the Gaza Strip.