Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

  Israel Seeks to Set New System to Deliver Foreign Aids to Gaza Strip


Wed 14 Jul 2021 | 11:02 AM
Ahmed Moamar

Israel looks forward to set a system that will serve as a safeguard to assure that donations won’t be perted to bolster Hamas and other resistant Palestinian groups.

International humanitarian agencies estimated costs of reconstructing the Strip at  $500 million following 11 days of cross-border fighting with the Israeli forces in May.

Qatar donated more than $1 billion worth of construction and other projects in Gaza, some of it in cash, after a war in 2014.

The funds were monitored and approved by Israel, and Doha pledged another $500 million late May after the recent round of clashes.

"The new Israeli government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wants a change in policy," Internal Security Minister Omer Barlev said, adding that the Qatari money for the Gaza  Strip will not go in as suitcases crammed with dollars.

The Israeli minister claimed that those funds end up with Hamas.

He said Bennett envisaged "a mechanism where what will go in, in essence, to fund food purchases or other humanitarian aid to the population of the strip.

Bennett insists not cash flows can be taken or used for developing weaponry.

Hamas, which has previously denied using Gaza aid for its military, did not immediately comment.

Barlev said the proposed aid mechanism should run mainly through the United Nations.

He did not rule out continued donations from Qatar and raised the possibility of European Union assistance.

"Should the mechanism be like this, I have no doubt that Israel would help in the improvement of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip," he said.