The Israeli government has decided to prevent Hamas group from accessing Qatari or other funds to the Gaza Strip.
Naftali Bennett’s coalition government is currently looking for a mechanism to transfer all the money to the enclave through United Nations channels to be spent on reconstruction projects only.
According to Channel 12, Israelis are currently holding talks with the UN to figure out a transfer mechanism through a UN-affiliated fund.
Reconstruction of Gaza after May’s 11-day fighting is being held up by a dispute over the fate of Israelis long held by Hamas and a lack of clarity over how to prevent it from accessing aid funds.
Egypt and Qatar have pledged $500 million each for reconstruction in the Palestinian enclave, two-thirds of whose two million residents rely on aid.
Israel says that can proceed only if it makes headway in efforts to recover two soldiers missing in action in a 2014 Gaza war, as well as two civilians who slipped separately into the enclave.
Hamas, which has not detailed the four Israelis’ condition, says talks about them must be based on a swap for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, not aid.
Israel’s decision to prevent the transfer of Qatari funds to Gaza came days after reports that an Israeli-Qatari-Hamas agreement had been concluded, according to which funds would be transferred to the Strip at the end of this week through UN representatives.
With the ceasefire largely holding, Israel on Monday began allowing fuel into Gaza for the first time in weeks, after easing up import and export restrictions on the Strip last week.
Hamas rejects any change in the money transfer mechanism. It threatened to escalate in case Israel proceeds with its new policy.
Since the ceasefire, Palestinians in Gaza have sporadically launched balloons laden with incendiary material across the border, causing fires that have burned fields in Israel.
