Israeli PM wants Gaza foreign aid run through vouchers Minister

TEL AVIV, 14 July 2021, (TON): A government minister said that Israel wants foreign aid to Gaza disbursed through a voucher system as a safeguard against donations being diverted to bolster the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas rulers and their arsenal.

Humanitarian agencies put the latest reconstruction costs for the impoverished Gaza Strip at $500m following 11 days of cross-border fighting in May.Qatar bankrolled more than $1bn worth of construction and other projects in Gaza, some of it in cash, after a war in 2014. The payments were monitored and approved by Israel, and Doha pledged another $500m in late May.

New Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wants a shift in policy, Internal Security Minister Omer Bar Lev said.

“The Qatari money for Gaza will not go in as suitcases full of dollars which end up with Hamas, where Hamas, in essence, takes for itself and its officials a significant part of it,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

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