Hamas Requests Increase of Qatari Funds From Israel

A female Palestinian demonstrator at a protest at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City (Reuters)
A female Palestinian demonstrator at a protest at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City (Reuters)
TT
20

Hamas Requests Increase of Qatari Funds From Israel

A female Palestinian demonstrator at a protest at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City (Reuters)
A female Palestinian demonstrator at a protest at the Israel-Gaza border, east of Gaza City (Reuters)

Hamas informed the Egyptian security delegation of its demands to end the current escalation with Israel, in addition to doubling Qatari funds and increasing permits for merchants and workers in Israel.

Sources close to the matter reported to Asharq Al-Awsat that Hamas told the Egyptian security delegation in a “positive and prolonged” meeting that they couldn't return to the situation prior to the current escalation without winning any achievements.

The meeting included Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, his deputy Khalil al-Hayya, and the movement’s representative in Egypt Rawhi Mushtaha.

The sources added that Hamas asked Egyptian officials to pressure Israel to implement previous commitments that were agreed upon before the recent launch of incendiary balloons and nighttime protests at the border.

Hamas will receive a response to its demands at any time after a discussion between the security delegation and Israeli officials.

The Israeli daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, said that senior Egyptian intelligence officials had conveyed the demands to the Israeli side, including approving economic infrastructure projects, allowing import and export movement, increasing work permits for Gazan workers in Israel to 100,000, expanding the fishing area to 20 miles, and keeping Kerem Shalom commercial crossing opened.

Hamas requested doubling the Qatari grant provided to the enclave and the implementation of projects previously agreed upon through the UN.

The newspaper affirmed that Tel Aviv did not object to the demands, but some of these requests are not within Israeli control, but require international and regional coordination and approvals.

The Egyptian security delegation arrived in the Gaza Strip Monday to contain the recent escalation between Tel Aviv and Hamas, and met Israeli and Palestinian officials in Ramallah.

Egypt is trying to reinforce the truce it sponsored last year. If the first phase is successful, it guarantees to build a port, an airport, a hospital, and an industrial zone.

However, none of the provisions were fully implemented and Hamas escalated the situation last week by launching incendiary balloons towards Israel and activating night demonstrations.

Israel responded by launching bombs and imposing punitive measures, threatening to escalate. Israeli authorities prevented the entry of fuel into Gaza which further deepened the Strip's crisis.

Meanwhile, Haaretz newspaper said that Hamas leadership is not seeking a full-scale confrontation, adding that launching the incendiary balloons and the renewal of the nighttime protests by the border are calls of distress directed not only at Israel, but also at Egypt and the UN representative to the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov.

Hamas believes that Tel Aviv does not want an escalation, given the health and economic crises in Israel and the agreement with the UAE.



Gaza Rescuers Say Israeli Fire Kills 20 Aid Seekers, UN Decries ‘Horrifying Suffering’ 

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20

Gaza Rescuers Say Israeli Fire Kills 20 Aid Seekers, UN Decries ‘Horrifying Suffering’ 

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Gaza's civil defense agency said that Israeli gunfire killed 20 people waiting for aid in the south of the Palestinian territory on Monday.  

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that "20 martyrs and more than 200 wounded by occupation gunfire... were transferred to the Red Cross field hospital in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, then to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis".  

He added that the people had been waiting to reach an aid center in Rafah "when the occupation forces opened fire" near the Al-Alam roundabout.  

When asked by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking the reports.  

Meanwhile, a new UN food crisis report released on Monday said the resumption of military operations in Gaza was escalating the food crisis in Gaza "to unprecedented levels."   

The Hunger Hotspots report by the World Food Program and Food and Agricultural Organization said that no adequate humanitarian aid or commercial supplies have reached the Gaza Strip since the end of the eight-week ceasefire, the longest interruption since the start of the conflict.   

According to the latest projections, released in May, the whole of Gaza's 2.1 million people are at risk of falling into acute food insecurity by September.   

The UN human rights chief said Israel’s warfare in Gaza is inflicting “horrifying, unconscionable suffering” on Palestinians and urged government leaders to exert pressure on Israel’s government and the Hamas movement to end it.  

“Israel’s means and methods of warfare are inflicting horrifying, unconscionable suffering on Palestinians in Gaza,” Volker Türk told the 47-member Human Rights Council in an address that raised concerns about the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel and the fallout from sweeping US tariffs among other topics.  

Israeli authorities have regularly accused the council of anti-Israel bias, and the Trump administration has kept the United States out of its proceedings.