Israel has approved a new mechanism for transferring Qatari aid funds to Gaza. The money is meant to help Gaza rebuild after the May cross-border conflict. Israel had held up the money over fears that it would go directly to the terrorist Hamas organization, which runs the coastal strip.
Under the new mechanism, financial aid will be transferred to hundreds of thousands of Gazans by the United Nations directly to their bank accounts, with Israel overseeing the recipients, Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced late Thursday. Gantz said that Israel is in talks with the Palestinian Authority to establish an alternative mechanism for transferring the funds under PA supervision.
“We will also continue our pressure campaign for the return of the Israeli soldiers and citizens that are being held hostage by Hamas,” Gantz said in a statement.
“At the end of operation ‘Guardian of the Walls,’ I declared that the status quo will be no longer. We will not tolerate any threat to our sovereignty – from the smallest fire balloon to rockets fired over our cities – we have responded in the past and will respond to any future threat forcefully,” he also said.
Qatar’s Gaza Strip Reconstruction Committee said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the UN to distribute $100 to each of about 100,000 families starting in September, Al Jazeera reported.