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Israel, Doha, Hamas Discuss Resumption of Delivery of Qatari Funds to Gaza

A Palestinian man walks next to Hamas police officers at the entrance of the Shifa Hospital where coronavirus cases were discovered, in Gaza City, Aug. 26, 2020. (AP)
A Palestinian man walks next to Hamas police officers at the entrance of the Shifa Hospital where coronavirus cases were discovered, in Gaza City, Aug. 26, 2020. (AP)
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Israel, Doha, Hamas Discuss Resumption of Delivery of Qatari Funds to Gaza

A Palestinian man walks next to Hamas police officers at the entrance of the Shifa Hospital where coronavirus cases were discovered, in Gaza City, Aug. 26, 2020. (AP)
A Palestinian man walks next to Hamas police officers at the entrance of the Shifa Hospital where coronavirus cases were discovered, in Gaza City, Aug. 26, 2020. (AP)

Israel and Hamas have reached a truce agreement mediated by Qatar that will see the implementation of a six-month ceasefire, reported Israel’s Channel 12 on Sunday.

In return, Qatar will transfer $100 million to Hamas in a deal coordinated with Doha by Mossad head Yossi Cohen alongside the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), according to the report.

The agreement was reached despite recent Israeli warnings of an imminent escalation in Gaza. The Israeli army ordered its forces to be ready for a new round of fighting in the coastal strip at the end of October.

Israel predicted that Hamas might choose escalation and start sending incendiary balloons in response to the deterioration to living conditions in Gaza. Tensions have been mounting in Gaza due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, shortage of medicine and Qatari funds and outrage over recent Arab peace deals with Israel. The upcoming American presidential elections may also be a factor in any new escalation.

Israel’s Maariv newspaper revealed that Hamas is witnessing a major crisis and internal pressure due the poor conditions in Gaza.

A security source predicted that the Palestinian group may again resort to firing incendiary balloons from Gaza towards Israel.

With the exception of two incidents of rocket fire, an unofficial agreement between Israel and Hamas has mainly held since the end of August, when Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar’s office announced that the group had accepted ceasefire terms negotiated by Qatar.

Israel tacitly indicated its consent by lifting the restrictions imposed on the Strip since the beginning of the August escalation in violence.

A Hamas official said on September 1 that if Israel did not fulfill the terms of the ceasefire agreement with the Gaza rules by the end of two months, there could be another round of escalation of violence on the southern border.

The report by Channel 12 stated that Hamas is seeking to increase the Qatari grant to Gaza through a new escalation.

Hamas is demanding the resumption of of civil projects and reoperation of the power station, the report added.

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Arab World

Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
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Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)

Some 29 Lebanese border villages have been “completely destroyed” by Israel, revealed Mohamed Chamseddine, policy research specialist at Information International.

Vidoes have been circulating on social media of dozens of houses in a Lebanese border village being detonated simultaneously by the Israeli army. Israel has been adopting this scorched earth policy since October in an attempt to set up a buffer zone along the border.

In one video, soldiers can be heard chanting a countdown before the detonation of several houses followed by celebrations.

Chamseddine told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel has destroyed 29 villages dotted across 120 kms from the Naqoura area in the west to Shebaa in the east.

The villages of Aita al-Shaab, Kfar Kila, Adeisseh, Houla, Dhayra, Marwahin, Mhaibib, and al-Khiam have been completely destroyed along with some 25,000 houses, he added.

Last month, the detonations in Adeisseh and Deir Seryan were so powerful that they caused tremors that were initially mistaken for earthquakes.

Experts are in agreement that Israel is completely wiping out villages and all signs of life, including trees, to turn the area into a buffer zone so that residents of northern Israel can return to their homes.

They also believe that the scorched earth policy means that residents of the South won’t be able to rebuild and replant what they lost once a ceasefire is reached and they can return home.

Brig. Gen. Hassan Jouni, former deputy chief of staff of operations in the Lebanese Armed Forces, said Israel wants to be create a 3 km-deep buffer zone along its border with Lebanon.

Israel is destroying everything in that area, leaving it exposed so that any possible threat there can be easily spotted, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

However, he remarked that Israel is not keeping its forces deployed in the South, so it won’t be able to hold any territory and keep these areas destroyed. Any political agreement will inevitably call for the return of Lebanese residents back to their villages where they will rebuild their homes, he explained.

The Lebanese state will in no way agree for the border strip to remain uninhabited and destroyed, Jouni stressed.

“In all likelihood, Israel already knows this, and its actions are part of a psychological war to punish the residents of those villages and towns because they are Hezbollah’s popular support base. Israel wants to drive a wedge between the people and Hezbollah. It is as if it is saying: ‘See how the party was unable to protect your homes,’” he went on to say.

Moreover, Jouni said Israel is mistaken if it believes that a buffer zone will restore security to its northern settlements because those areas can be targeted from beyond the border region.

So, what is taking place on the ground is in effect Israel just going to the extreme in violating international law, he added. “Its claims that it is targeting weapons and ammunition caches do not fool anyone because from a military standpoint, these caches are not stored along the border, but deeper in a country.”