Turkish Aid Group’s Gaza Director Killed While Serving as Islamic Jihad Commander
Latest revelation of dual terror role strengthens case for U.S. sanctions against organization with documented al-Qaeda, Hamas ties spanning more than two decades
A program director for the Turkish IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation killed in Gaza last May was simultaneously serving as a commander in Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing, according to an analysis by Israel Policy Forum researcher Gabriel Epstein. Mohammed Jamal Faraj al-Mubayyad, 38, held the position of Gaza program director at IHH while commanding the Central Mobilization Unit in Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Gaza Brigade when he was killed in an airstrike on May 28, 2025. The revelation adds to a documented pattern of IHH officials maintaining operational roles in designated terror groups — connections that have prompted repeated calls for the U.S. Treasury to sanction the organization.
Years of Terror Links
IHH’s entanglement with militant networks extends far beyond a single employee. Israel outlawed the organization in 2008 due to its membership in the Union of Good, an umbrella network of more than 50 Islamic organizations that the U.S. Treasury Department designated in 2008 as a Hamas fundraising apparatus created by the terror group’s leadership.
During Israel’s 2002 Operation Defensive Shield, the Union of Good transferred money to families of suicide bombers through Hamas-controlled charities, according to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
The organization’s Gaza branch chief, Mehmet Kaya, allegedly transferred cash from Turkey directly to senior Hamas officials including Ismail Haniyeh, with funds used to construct a naval training facility and purchase weapons and equipment, the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs reported in December 2021.
Weapons for Jihadists in Syria
A Turkish police investigation in January 2014 uncovered that IHH had smuggled arms to al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists in Syria. The criminal probe by prosecutors in Turkey’s Van province revealed through wiretaps and surveillance that the organization’s Kayseri and Kilis branches were sending funds, medical supplies, and household goods to jihadists in Syria with assistance from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization.
When Turkish investigators uncovered these connections, Prime Minister Erdoğan intervened to shut down the probe, subsequently dismissing and detaining the police officials and prosecutors involved.
Intelligence documents presented to the UN Security Council in February 2016 by Russian authorities identified IHH trucks — complete with license plates — transporting weapons and equipment to jihadist factions in Syria, including the Nusra Front.
Mavi Marmara and the Flotilla Campaign
IHH organized the 2010 Gaza flotilla, owning and operating the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara. When Israeli naval commandos boarded the vessel on May 31, 2010, they were attacked by approximately 40 IHH activists with various handheld and makeshift weapons. During searches of the ships following the operation, no humanitarian supplies were found aboard the Mavi Marmara and two other vessels.
French counterterrorism investigator Jean-Louis Bruguière asserted that IHH had ties to al-Qaeda’s planned millennium attack on Los Angeles International Airport, discovering during late 1990s investigations that members of an international terror network operated within the organization.
Calls for U.S. Designation
Following the Mavi Marmara incident, 87 U.S. senators signed a letter in June 2010 calling on the Obama administration to “consider whether the IHH should be put on the list of foreign terrorist organizations.” The letter noted IHH’s membership in the Union of Good and recommended an examination by the intelligence community, State Department, and Treasury Department.
In October 2011, Congress introduced legislation directing the Secretary of State to report on whether IHH and other flotilla support organizations should be designated as foreign terrorist organizations. The bill cited CIA and Treasury Department determinations that IHH had “known terrorist ties.”
Despite these calls, the U.S. has never formally designated IHH as a terrorist organization. The organization continues to operate in Gaza, where it announced in October 2025 the launch of reconstruction projects following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The revelation that IHH’s Gaza program director simultaneously served as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander underscores longstanding concerns about the organization’s role not as a humanitarian aid provider, but as an operational facilitator for designated terror groups operating under cover of charitable work.
Jewish Onliner approached the U.S. Treasury for comment but did not receive a response by press time.