Egypt rejects citizenship for daughter of Hamas negotiator Ghazi Hamad
Egypt’s Ministry of Interior has rejected an application for Egyptian citizenship submitted by Asmaa Ghazi Hamad, daughter of senior Hamas political bureau member and negotiating team official Ghazi Hamad, citing “security grounds,” according to an official decree published in the Official Gazette.
A source close to the Hamas negotiator’s family termed the rejection “surprising,” pointing out that three of Asmaa’s siblings had previously obtained Egyptian citizenship through the identical legal process based on their mother’s Egyptian nationality, encountering no impediments.
Hamad resided in Egypt when she submitted her citizenship petition before subsequently relocating to Qatar alongside her husband, who works in education there, the source explained to Al Manassa. He further affirmed that the Hamas official’s daughter holds no security issues or prior record of any kind.
Ministerial Decree No. 1630 of 2026, published in Wednesday’s edition of the gazette, stipulated the rejection of the request by Palestinian national Asmaa Ghazi Ahmad Hamad, born in Palestine on June 2, 1989, to acquire Egyptian citizenship through her mother, who holds Egyptian nationality.
The decree based the denial on Article 3, Paragraph 2, of Law No. 154 of 2004, which amended specific provisions of Nationality Law No. 26 of 1975, on “security grounds.”
Article 3 of the Egyptian nationality law grants individuals born to an Egyptian mother and a non-Egyptian father prior to the enactment of Law No. 154 of 2004 the right to notify the Minister of Interior of their desire to obtain Egyptian nationality.
The article’s second paragraph applies these procedures to adult offspring, a category covering Hamad due to her 1989 birth year. The provision confers upon the Minister of Interior the legal authority to issue a reasoned rejection within one year of application submission, an instrument security services rely upon to withhold nationality whenever barriers arise concerning public interest or what authorities characterize as “security grounds.”
Following then-President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster in June 2013, the Interior Ministry declined to grant or verify Egyptian nationality for numerous individuals tied to Palestinian factions, foremost among them Hamas, on security grounds.
In November 2013, former Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Mohamed Ibrahim issued a corresponding decree rejecting nationality applications for several family members of senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar.
That rejection targeted his daughter, Huda, and two of his nephews on the same security grounds, despite Al-Zahar himself having secured citizenship earlier through his Egyptian mother.
Hamad ranks among Hamas’ most prominent political and media figures, holding a seat on its political bureau. In the months following the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, his profile grew as a key negotiator during indirect talks hosted by Cairo and Doha to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange with Israel.
Hamad enlisted in Hamas during its initial founding years, climbing through its leadership tiers. He served for years as editor-in-chief of Al-Resalah, a newspaper close to the movement in Gaza, and became official spokesperson for the first Hamas-led government headed by the late Ismail Haniyeh in 2006 following its legislative election victory. He subsequently served as deputy foreign minister and head of the energy and border crossings authority in the Strip.
Like thousands of Palestinian households, Hamad’s family paid a heavy toll during the ongoing Israeli genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli airstrike targeting their home and surrounding residential neighborhood in southern Gaza killed his eldest son, Abdullah Ghazi Hamad, along with his wife and multiple family members.
Hamad himself survived previous Israeli assassination attempts, the latest in Doha in September 2025, and airstrikes targeting movement leaders in the Strip have destroyed his home multiple times.