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.



Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 30 Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 30 Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 30 Palestinians since Monday night, Palestinian media and medics said on Tuesday, as the Israeli army tightened its siege on northern areas of the enclave.

An airstrike damaged two houses in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, where the army has carried out new operations since Oct. 5, and killed at least 20 people late on Monday, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas media said.

The Gaza health ministry did not immediately confirm the toll. Four other people were killed in the central Gazan town of Al-Zawayda around midnight on Monday, medics said.

Palestinian health officials said six people had also been killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City and Deir Al-Balah in the central area of the narrow enclave.

The Israeli military said, without giving details, that its forces had "eliminated terrorists" in the central Gaza Strip and Jabalia area. Israeli troops had also located weapons and explosives over the past day in the southern Rafah area, where "terrorist infrastructure sites" had been eliminated, it said.

Palestinians said the new attacks and Israeli orders for people to evacuate were aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.

More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, the authorities in Gaza say, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.

The war began after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.