To Exclude Qatar, 'Israel' Wants UAE to Transfer Money to Gaza

Hebrew media reported an Israeli proposal calling for the UAE to transfer funds to the Gaza Strip instead of Qatar, because of difficulties.

The Hebrew Kan channel indicated that it was published for the first time that “Israel” had considered including the Emirates in paying the salaries of the employees of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas instead of Qatar.

According to an Israeli source, the UAE rejected the offer completely, and said it was not interested in getting involved in a cash or bank transfer to Hamas.

However, the UAE is willing to provide immediate assistance to civilians in the Gaza Strip, the website claims.

 

New Procedure

In August 2021, a new mechanism was announced for transferring money from Qatar to the residents of the Gaza Strip, which aims to replace the cash bags transported by Qatari Ambassador Mohammed Al-Emadi.

It is expected that about 100,000 families in need in the Gaza Strip will receive, according to the plan, $100 per person.

Gili Cohen, a political analyst at the Hebrew Kan channel, pointed out that a month later, Muhammad al-Emadi announced that the Palestinian Authority had decided to withdraw from the agreement to distribute Hamas’s salaries in the Gaza Strip.

The announcement was made by the banks affiliated with the Palestinian Monetary Authority in Gaza.

In another context, the Hebrew website Makor Rishon indicated that the Israeli government and its leader, Naftali Bennett, praised the new procedure that is being implemented.

"Dollar bags are something we inherited, and we need to get out of these established procedures," he said at a cabinet meeting at the end of October.

He indicated that the government's move to end the procedure is undoubtedly an amazing achievement, but the problem is that it is futile, because Qatari bags will continue to enter the Gaza Strip. He talked about the idea of ​​establishing a body under the supervision of the United Nations to manage the transfer of funds.

So far, Bennett's new measures are logical in the absence of a real ability to monitor the destination of this money, even though he claims that it is supposed to reach the people of Gaza and it is for humanitarian purposes.

According to the Hebrew site, the people of Gaza probably did not even see that money.

According to what was announced, the new measure is expected to create a situation in which funds will be transferred under the supervision of the United Nations to the residents of Gaza, including a $100 grant to about 100,000 families considered by Hamas as needy.

While the rest of the money goes to the salaries of Hamas government employees in Gaza, according to the Hebrew website's claim.

 

Enemy Hands

It is claimed that the same new procedure is supposed to make things clearer. The money will enter through banks affiliated with the Palestine Monetary Fund, not banks run by Hamas.

The site says that everything will be according to plan subject to the supervision of the United Nations, and we will start working on ensuring that all humanitarian aid is supposed to be provided to the residents of Gaza."

It referred to several conditions, including that the operation "include, above all, the Israeli political and security conditions, including the disarmament of Hamas and the return of the IDF soldiers captured by the movement since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

The Hebrew website pointed out that the continuous failure lies in the fact that the funds allocated to the Gaza Strip to this day come from anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian hands, that is, the State of Qatar.

The strategic expert Smadar Hila Shmuli pointed out that the arrival of funds to Hamas is “a decisive and major Israeli defeat.”

In the same context, the Hebrew Channel 12 indicated that the new Israeli government decided that no more Qatari money enters through bags to Gaza.

In order to successfully monitor destinations in the Gaza Strip financed from foreign aid funds, “Israel” is currently working on establishing an international mechanism for transferring those funds.

According to the expert, the method used will be that the money that will enter the Gaza Strip will only support needy families and some projects.

“Israel” has insisted on a mechanism to prevent the transfer of funds to the Gaza Strip for the past three months, and the Bennett government is currently working to end the flow of Qatari financial envelopes, according to a television interview in Channel 12 news studio.

It seems that instead of the current procedure, where every few weeks a car full of bags and envelopes arrives with Qatari funds passing directly into the Strip, another mechanism is being promoted to transfer those funds through the UN Fund, making it possible to monitor their actual destination.