Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected recent threats by the Hamas movement to Israel.
“Israel won’t accept any ultimatum from Hamas,” Netanyahu said at the outset of his cabinet session on Sunday.
“Israel will continue to act according to Israeli interests and for Israeli security alone,” he added.
Hamas official Yehya Sinwar has presented Israel with an ultimatum, demanding that it inject $15 million in cash to Gaza every month, including an initial payment by Thursday, or else it will escalate the situation along the border with Israel.
The money is required to pay the salaries of Hamas employees.
Hamas’ ultimatum followed another round of fighting that did not involve the movement. The Jihad group fired rockets at Israel at dawn on Friday and Saturday.
Israel responded by carrying out a series of raids on the Gaza Strip before Egypt could establish a new ceasefire.
Three boys aged 12 to 14 were killed in the strikes in the southeastern Gaza, Palestinian medics said.
Israel accused Iran and Syria of being behind the Jihad’s escalation, which Hamas opposed, and threatened to retaliate inside and outside Gaza.
Meanwhile, other Israeli officials rejected Sinwar’s message and considered it a form of ransom.
Member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin said that “all the months that Hamas has been attacking, we have been talking about Israelis being held hostage in the Gaza border area.”
“Now we are moving to the stage where this is an actual fact as Hamas is demanding ransom from Israel.”
“After concluding a successful round of negotiations with Netanyahu, Hamas understands the balance of power here, and is moving to actual extortion, without apologies,” he further noted.
“We must reject this dangerous demand and find a way to restore the supplying of resources via the Palestinian Authority,” Nahmias-Verbin stressed.
The PA completely rejects the Qatari initiative on Gaza, saying that funding Hamas will only widen the division among Palestinians and encourages separation.
The Gaza-Israel border area has been volatile for months as Hamas organizes weekly protests there demanding the Palestinians’ right to return to their homeland.
More than 160 Palestinians were killed in the protests since March.
