Hamas leader warns Israel to transfer $30,000,000 from Qatar or face escalation

Israel has transferred Qatari money to Hamas in the past for humanitarian reasons, but now has discontinued doing so:

Israel and the UN are particularly concerned about the resumption of Qatar cash payments out of fear that Hamas will use the funds to rebuild its military capabilities, significantly weakened during the latest round of violence last month.

It is also worthwhile to note that Qatar is well known for jihad funding. Only recently, it reportedly sent hundreds of millions of dollars to the al-Qaeda affiliated al Nusra Front in Syria.

The Israeli concern about where the $30 million will go is prudent. As noted in the Hamas Charter:

The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine. (Article 6)…..Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it…..

Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar recently warned that if Gaza’s problems were not “solved, the terrorist group would ‘burn everything.’” To Hamas, “solving” Gaza’s problems means the obliteration of Israel, and its goal isn’t isolated. The surrounding Arab countries sought to do the same when Israel was founded, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation currently supports the Palestinian “resistance.”

“Hamas leader to Israel: Transfer $30m. from Qatar or head to escalation,” Jerusalem Post, June 22, 2021:

Hamas plans to escalate tensions with Israel unless it allows Qatar to transfer $30 million to the Gaza Strip to help pay salaries, KAN News reported on Monday.

The terrorist group’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, met on Sunday with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland and pressed him on the matter.

A discouraged Sinwar briefed reporters on the failure of the talks with the UN envoy and accused Israel of blackmail, calling for popular resistance while pledging to convene a meeting of all the Palestinian factions to unite their efforts.

Israel and the UN are particularly concerned about the resumption of Qatar cash payments out of fear that Hamas will use the funds to rebuild its military capabilities, significantly weakened during the latest round of violence last month.

One suggested compromise includes using the money to directly fund UN projects in the Gaza Strip.

The issue is supposed to be on the agenda of next week’s meeting in Cairo between Israeli and Egyptian officials, according to KAN.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric in New York said Wennesland was “continuing his efforts to solidify the cessation of hostilities.”

Earlier on Monday, Sinwar told reporters that Hamas talks with the United Nations had failed. He announced that he had rejected Israeli provocations and said that a meeting of all Palestinian factions would be held later in the day…..