Jihad Yaghmour

Jihad Muhammad Shaker Yaghmour is a senior Hamas official based in Turkey and served as the movement’s representative in the country until 2023. In October 1994, together with other Hamas operatives, he abducted Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman. He was captured by Israeli security forces, convicted of murder and kidnapping, and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2011, after serving 17 years in an Israeli prison, he was released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and deported to Turkey. There, he served as head of Hamas’s Office of Arab and Islamic Relations and as the movement’s representative until 2023.