Qatar's financial aid to the Gaza Strip continues amid U.S and Israel rebuke
The United States and Israel rebuke Qatar’s financial aid to Gaza claiming that the area is controlled by Hamas.
CNN reports that the Emirate of Qatar has not ceased financial aid to Gaza and that aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip continues.
Mohammad bin Abdulaziz Al-Khalifi, the Minister of Interior of Qatar, in a conversation with CNN in the Middle East, emphasized that Qatar continues to donate a lot of cash to support the residents of the Gaza Strip and will continue to do so as it did during previous years.
Al-Khalifi stated that "Qatar is not going to change its mission towards the Palestinian nation."
According to the Qatari official, Doha's duty is to "continually help and support Palestinian brothers and sisters". He emphasized that this emirate continues to provide financial aid to Gaza "in a systematic way" as has happened in previous years.
The continuation of Qatar's aid to the Gaza Strip is amid the United States and Israel’s rebuke arguing that this area is run by the Hamas militia, and financial aid to Hamas is aid to terrorism.
After the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli territory, Tel Aviv authorities have repeatedly accused some Gulf countries, including Qatar, of providing financial support to Hamas.
According to Independent Persian, Israel said Qatari diplomats "enter the Gaza Strip every month with suitcases containing millions of dollars in cash."
However, Doha's first official financial aid to the Gaza administration came with the agreement of Israel in 2018. At that time, due to the lack of funds of the Hamas government in Gaza, Doha took over the cost of paying the salaries of the employees and workers living in Gaza.
At that time, Benjamin Netanyahu, the then and current Prime Minister of Israel, welcomed this Qatari initiative and action.
Some of Benjamin Netanyahu's critics consider his initial support for authorizing financial aid to the administration of the Gaza Strip to be the Israeli prime minister's biggest mistake.
According to these critics, Hamas used these funds to prepare for attacks such as the events of October 7, Reuters reports. The Israeli government announced at least 1,200 Israeli citizens were killed during the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Amos Gilad, the retired major general of the Israeli army who has been a staunch opponent of Qatar's financial aid to Hamas, in a CNN interview on Sunday, December 10, compared the financial aid to Hamas to "oxygen, which is a factor of survival and stability for this group.”
