Qatar Ensures Support Fund Payments to Gaza Continue Despite Hamas-Israel Conflict

A child ran among the ruins of buildings as a result of an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip, Palestine. (UNRWA/Ashraf Amra)

JAKARTA - Qatar's Minister of Foreign Affairs on Monday confirmed that his country would continue to make regular payments of support funds for the Gaza Strip, Palestine, as had been done for years before.

"We will not change our mandate. Our mandate is continuous assistance and support for our brothers and sisters in Palestine. We will continue to do it systematically as we did before," explained Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, as reported by CNN 11 December .

Foreign Minister Khulaifi's remarks come amid growing anger in Israel over years of payments from the Gulf state, under a deal that requires Qatari diplomats to arrive in the Gaza region every month with suitcases filled with $15 million in cash.

This policy was in the spotlight after Hamas' attack on the southern region of Israel on October 7, triggering the latest armed conflict in the Gaza region which continues to this day.

Qatar's support began after the Palestinian Authority (PA) which rules the country in the West Bank, which also comes from the rival Hamas (Fatah) faction, decided to abolish salary payments to government workers in Gaza in 2017.

The cash transfers were able to help pay civil servants in Gaza. Images from 2018 show workers queuing to receive 100 US dollar bills.

Israel approved the deal in a security cabinet meeting in August 2018, during Benjamin Netanyahu's previous reign as prime minister. At that time, Netanyahu was criticized for being soft on Hamas.

After Qatar's envoy to Gaza, Mohamed Al Emadi, handed over the first suitcase filled with cash in November 2018, Netanyahu defended the initiative.

"I'm doing everything I can in coordination with security experts to restore calm to the (Israeli) villages in the south, but also to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe (in Gaza). It's a process. I think right now, this is a step that right," Netanyahu said at the time.

One of his critics at the time was Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who called the funds “protection money.” Bennett later became prime minister in a short-lived government.

On Sunday, he told CNN he had stopped allowing payments to be made in cash when he became prime minister, calling the cash briefcase a “terrible mistake.”

"Why do we give them (Hamas) cash to kill us (Israel)?" Bennet asked.

Cash payments stopped, but fund transfers to Gaza continued under Bennett's leadership, according to the New York Times.

PA officials said at the time the cash transfers were driving divisions between Palestinian factions.

Separately, Major General Amos Gilad, a former senior Israeli Defense Ministry official, said the aid policy for Gaza was supported by the prime minister, but not by the Israeli intelligence community. There is also a belief it would "weaken Palestinian sovereignty," he said.

There is also the illusion, he added, that "if you give them (Hamas) money, they will be tamed."

Gilad said he was among those who opposed allowing funding to Hamas, saying its permitted flow of funds over the years was a “dramatic and tragic mistake.”

With these funds, "they can take care of the people. They can take care of military upgrades, and build their capabilities," Gilad said last week.

It is known that criticism of PM Netanyahu among Israelis surged after the Hamas attack, blaming the prime minister for failing to prevent it.