Report: Israel Agrees to Allow Qatari Money Into Gaza

Israel has informed Egyptian mediators that it intends to allow supplies and Qatari aid into Gaza, the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Wednesday morning.

Sources told the paper that the past two days had seen “intensive” contact between Hamas and international mediators, and that Hamas was insisting that the conditions controlling border crossings, monthly Qatari aid and shipments of building materials that were in place prior to Operation Guardian of the Walls in May be restored.

Al-Akhbar also reported that Hamas is threatening a counter-response to Israeli strikes against Hamas targets that followed a rocket attack on Monday.

A high-ranking Hamas source told Yisrael Hayom that the rocket had been fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. However, the terrorist factions in Gaza coordinate with each other, and Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks launched from its territory.

According to the Lebanese report, Hamas has warned mediators that if the Qatari aid money and construction materials were not allowed into Gaza, the organization would continue its “pressure actions,” and any Israeli response to these would be met by “various measures.”

Meanwhile, the Egyptians have reportedly asked Hamas to refrain from escalating the already tense situation and allow Israel a window of opportunity to implement its commitments.

Al-Akhbar previously reported that Hamas planned to reinstate its border “marches” starting this weekend, calling on thousands of Palestinians to approach the Gaza-Israel border. Hamas is also planning to float arson balloons over the border fence in the hope of starting wildfires in Israel, and return to the same tactics it employed during the “marches of return” it launched in 2018.

In effect, Hamas plans to resume the activity of its night crews, which fire rockets over the border with the sole purpose of setting off sirens throughout the night and harassing residents of the western Negev, as well as throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at IDF forces.