Israeli Prime Minister wants Gaza’s foreign aid to be run by vouchers: Minister | Gaza News

Aid agencies are financing the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip for $ 500m following 11 days of fighting in May.

Israelis want foreign aid in Gaza to be provided through vouchers as a security measure to strengthen the Palestinian Hamas authorities, their weapons, the prime minister said on Tuesday.

Aid agencies are financing the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip for $ 500m following 11 days of fighting in May.

Qatar recorded more than $ 1bn in construction and other aspects of Gaza, some of it financially, after the war ended in 2014. The payment was monitored and approved by Israel, and Doha pledged another $ 500m at the end of May.

Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wants to change the policy, Interior Minister Omer Bar Lev said.

“Qatar’s Gaza currency will not come in if the suitcase is full of dollars that end up in Hamas, where Hamas, in turn, takes its toll on itself and its officials,” he told Israel Army Radio.

He also said that Bennett thinks that “the only way to do so would be food, or humanitarian vouchers, and not money that could be taken and used to make weapons to be used against the State of Israel.”

Hamas, which has previously refused to use Gaza aid for its military operations, did not immediately respond.

Mohammed al-Emadi, Qatar’s ambassador to Gaza, was not immediately available for comment.

A Palestinian official told Reuters news agency: “There is no last resort.”

Bar Lev said the plan should be implemented, especially in the United Nations. He did not protect donations from Qatar and advocated for European Union support.

“With these machines in place, I have no doubt that Israel can help raise aid to Gaza,” he said.

The EU, the United States and other countries have designated Hamas as a “terrorist” organization.