Documents reveal Israel’s role in Qatari aid to Gaza — TIME
In Israel, documents obtained by TIME indicate that Israeli governments played a direct role in the mechanism of Qatari financial aid to the Gaza Strip. The publication writes that since 2012, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facilitated transfers made by Qatar after Hamas took control of the Strip in 2007.
According to Haaretz, by 2018 Qatar had directed approximately $1.1 billion to Gaza. The funds were intended for humanitarian aid, fuel purchases and the payment of government salaries. TIME notes that the total volume of Qatari payments over more than a decade approached $2 billion.
Letter from the Mossad chief
One of the documents is a 2020 letter from the then-director of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, Yossi Cohen, to Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. In it, Cohen thanked Qatar for its humanitarian efforts in Gaza and stated that they had played an important role in improving the humanitarian situation, as well as ensuring stability and security in the region.
In 2018, the mechanism was formalized with the participation of Qatar, Israel and the UN. In particular, on October 2 of that year, the parties concluded an agreement to finance fuel supplies to Gaza. According to U.S. and Israeli officials, Qatar also paid for fuel and electricity purchased in Israel, while funds for certain projects were transferred through the UN.
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Control over the distribution of funds
Under the program, the poorest families in Gaza received monthly assistance of $100. Diplomats familiar with the mechanism told the publication that Israel vetted the recipients and controlled the distribution system, while the funds were delivered through the UN World Food Programme. In August 2021, Qatar agreed to allocate $40 million for a payment program for nearly 100,000 Palestinian households over four months.
In 2018, when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cut payments to employees in Gaza, Israeli security forces transported Qatari funds into the Strip in suitcases, U.S. and Israeli media reported at the time. Netanyahu’s successor, Naftali Bennett, stopped the delivery of cash in suitcases in 2021, but not the broader mechanism of Qatari aid.
Two weeks before Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Mossad director David Barnea asked Qatar to extend the funding for another two months, The New York Times wrote. After the attack, the aid mechanism supported by several Israeli governments ceased to exist.
