Hamas has reportedly issued a direct threat to escalate the violence along the Gaza-Israel border if Israel hinders the entry of Qatari cash into the Gaza Strip and fails to increase the supply of electricity.
The threat, published in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar on Tuesday morning, follows outbursts of violence and tension along the border over recent weekends, and repeated warnings by Hamas and other Gazan terror groups that the blockaded Palestinian enclave was on the verge of an “explosion.”
“The factions have given the interlocutors a direct threat [to pass along to Israel]: If the enemy does not implement the understandings, allowing entry of the Qatari funds and increasing the quantity of electricity by this weekend, they will move to escalate on the ground,” an unnamed Hamas source told the newspaper.
Israel has allowed Qatar to deliver regular infusions of millions of dollars in cash to the Strip to help stabilize the territory and prevent a humanitarian collapse and further violence.
Hamas’s ultimatum drew accusations from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election challengers that his government had lost its ability to deter the Gazan terror group.
“This is what extortion looks like. To anyone who still doesn’t get it: our deterrence hasn’t eroded, it’s collapsed,” the Blue and White party said in a statement Tuesday. “In a Blue and White cabinet, we will set the agenda for Hamas, and won’t be its supplier of dollars.”
Al-Emadi’s visit, which will last for a number of days, will “follow up on the Qatari Gaza Reconstruction Committee’s work and projects in the Gaza Strip as well as follow up on the payment of Qatari grants to poor families” in the coastal enclave, according to a Monday report from the Gaza-based news site Sawa.
It’s not clear why Hamas is demanding that Israel allow the Qatari funds to enter the Strip, as there are no reports that Israel was planning to prevent the visit.
The Gazan groups’ ultimatum comes two days after Hamas officials blamed “rebellious youth” for the recent upsurge in violence in and around the Palestinian territory.
On Friday and Saturday, rockets from Gaza were fired at Israeli communities, and later Saturday night, the Israeli army shot dead three armed Gazans attempting to sneak across the border. Hamas spokesman Abdelatif al-Qanou said Sunday Israel had “killed and injured four rebellious youths, which is a reflection of its brutal behavior against our people and proof of the ugliness of its crimes.”
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