DOHA - The head of the Hamas government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Qatar Monday, beginning a regional tour that is also expected to take in Kuwait, Bahrain and Iran.

The official Qatari News Agency said Haniyeh’s visit to the Gulf emirate will “last several days,” while diplomats said he will leave Doha Saturday, after leading the main weekly Muslim prayers at noon Friday.

He will travel to Kuwait, then Bahrain and Iran, diplomats said.

Haniyeh’s spokesman in Gaza, Taher al-Nunu, said Haniyeh was expected to meet the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani, Tuesday after traveling on a special Qatari plane from Al-Arish airport in Egypt’s Sinai.

Haniyeh was traveling with his political adviser Yussef Rizq, his Housing and Public Works Minister Yussef al-Mansi and two key Hamas members – Yehia Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha – released from prison last year under a deal that saw hundreds of Palestinians freed in exchange for a captive Israeli soldier.

During his visit to Qatar, Haniyeh is also expected to hold meetings with Crown Prince Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani and key Sunni religious figure Yussef al-Qaradawi, Nunu said.

The tour is Haniyeh’s second since his Hamas movement swept 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections and then ousted forces loyal to president Mahmud Abbas from Gaza the following year.

On Jan. 10, he returned to Gaza after a first trip that included stops in Egypt, Sudan, Turkey and Tunisia.