GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas has remained silent about the Sudanese government transition after Defense Minister Ahmed Awad ibn Auf stood down on April 12, the day after leading a coup that toppled President Omar al-Bashir, with whom the movement had had strong ties. Sudan's significance to Hamas lies in it being one of the most important routes for the transfer of arms to Gaza. Bashir's regime boasted of its political support for Hamas and allowed it to open an office there. Hamas members also studied in Sudan.

Israel has over the years repeatedly reproached Sudan for opening its territory and ports to arms smuggled overland from Libya and by sea and air from Iran en route to Hamas via the Sinai. A retired Sudanese military commander who spoke to Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity said, “The former Sudanese regime did not provide any weapons to Hamas, but it turned a blind eye to the smuggling of its weapons through its territory to the Gaza Strip.”

The change in regime in Egypt dealt a significant blow to operations when President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the destruction of the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza through which the Palestinian factions received weapons and ordinary Palestinians were able to obtained an array of goods. With the crackdown, some smugglers turned to the sea to move goods. On April 7, Israel arrested two Palestinian fishermen for allegedly smuggling large amounts of explosives from Egypt to Hamas via the Mediterranean.

Mahmoud Mardawi, a former military official of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, spoke to Al-Monitor about how political changes in the Arab world over the past decade had led to a decline in financial and military support for the Palestinian factions, especially Hamas. Given this lack of support and Israeli control over goods entering Gaza, the movement had to resort to manufacturing its own weapons using smuggled equipment. Mardawi would not go into the specifics of smuggling, stating, “Methods of smuggling are secret, and no one in the movement is to speak of them in the media.”