“Ambassador Mohammed al-Amadi is in Qatar and for now and it is unclear if and when he will arrive in the Gaza Strip,” a member of the Qatari committee for the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip told TPS.
The source also said that “the Qatari grant is likely to enter next week, although no exact date has been set for this.”
Qatari Ambassador Muhammad Al-Amadi and Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar agreed in February that Qatar will transfer $100 grants to some 120,000 poor families on a monthly basis, help 500 singles fund their wedding costs, help the elderly with an additional $2 million, while yet another $1 million will be passed on to students to fund their tuition expenses.
Speaking to TPS, the Qatari representative said that the delay was due to “the effect of the procedures entailed with the Coronavirus crisis and that Israel has no responsibility for the delay in bringing in the money.”
Meanwhile, various sources report that Qatar will not be bringing the money into Gaza as long as there is the possibility that it will be sued in US or European courts as an entity that assist terrorist organizations, and that Qatari banks could be exposed to huge claims for terrorist assistance with the transfer of money to the Hamas regime.
Israeli security officials also believe that Qatar is delaying the transfer of the funds to the Gaza Strip for fear of being accused by the international community of supporting a terrorist organization and facing subsequent sanctions.
Various sources indicate that already three weeks ago, Israel approved the transfer of funds to the Gaza Strip, but that Qatar has not yet made the transfer, as is customary.
Al-Amadi has rejected the claim that Qatar has delayed the transfer of the funds and claims that the reason for the delay lies with the Corona crisis.
Standard procedure stipulates that Israel approves the transfer of funds to the bank accounts of Gaza residents whose names are given to it in advance, and then monitors the funds’ path to ensure that they do not reach terrorist operatives.
Meanwhile, United Nations representatives are also examining the possibility of bringing the funds into Gaza through another mechanism.
In recent days, the launching of arson balloons from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel have intensified, causing some fires.
The Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar reported on contacts in recent days with Hamas, mediated by Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations’ Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, and Qatari envoy Al-Amadi to introduce the grant into the Gaza Strip in the coming days.