Hamas' six biggest allies have been identified in a new study as the group continues to benefit from a "well-established international support system".

       A bombshell new report by the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), shown exclusively to the Express before its publication, claimed the countries as "largely responsible" for Hamas' survival.

       The findings, titled "Friends and Enablers of Hamas: State Actors", also identified the four different types of allyship Hamas is receiving.

       The six countries are: Iran, Qatar, Turkey, North Korea, Russia, and China.

       Iran, Qatar, and Turkey were identified as "the most explicit and vocal state supporters of Hamas" as they all provide aid in terms of finances, diplomacy, and ideology. Iran also gives Hamas significant military aid.

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       The three countries were labelled as "the group’s primary and well-established international support system, which is sustained by ideological alignment in certain crucial areas".

       The CEP said that while Turkey and Qatar "don't openly subscribe to the same annihilationist vision" as Hamas, they "strongly support many of [its] ideological tenets".

       On the other hand, Russia and China offer Hamas diplomatic support, the report claimed, while North Korea helped the group militarily. Russia and China in particular have seen support for the militants increase over the past 12 months, the report said.

       The CEP claimed: "Unlike the countries in the first tier, Russia, China, and North Korea do not attach the same ideological weight to the Palestinian issue. Indeed, Russia and China maintain diplomatic and economic relations with Israel."

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       Its report concluded: "The support Hamas receives from this secondary tier is therefore far less certain than Hamas’s trio of primary international patrons.

       "It is rooted in ambitions to erode US power, prestige, and influence, rather than in natural ideological opposition to Israel or organic commitment to the Palestinian cause.

       "Nevertheless, both Hamas’s ideological and negotiable government supporters are largely responsible for its ongoing political survival and military viability."

       This report comes as Hamas, a proscribed terror group in the UK, is believed to be still holding in captivity 61 of the over 250 hostages its militants abducted in Israel during the October 7 attack in 2023.

       Following a ceasefire - brokered by the US with Qatar acting as a mediator - aimed at stopping the war between Israel and Hamas on Gaza, the terror group started returning some of the hostages in small groups and some of the bodies of those who died while being held captive. In return, Israel freed from its prison dozens of Palestinians.