Netanyahu allowed funding for Hamas

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Wednesday that his government allowed Hamas to be funded in 2018 to keep Palestinian movements divided, confirming a long-standing rumor in Benjamin Netanyahu's first press conference since December.

“The policy that allowed Qatar to transfer money to Gaza was unanimously approved by the Security Cabinet. Why? Because we wanted to keep Hamas and the Palestinian National Authority divided,” he explained, quoted by the EFE news agency .

An investigation by the Shin Bet (Israeli internal intelligence service) revealed that Qatar was sending $30 million (an additional €26 million) per month to Gaza in 2018. This money ended up in the hands of Hamas, with the approval of Netanyahu's government. In 2023, the Israeli prime minister said that these allegations were “ridiculous”.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu also announced that Israel had “probably killed” Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar. “We are committed to achieving this clear and justified goal” of defeating Hamas, he added, noting a job that Israel “has not yet finished.”

In his conversation with journalists, the prime minister also pointed the finger at Iran, which he considered to continue to be “the greatest threat to Israel”. “The state of Israel has every right to protect itself from a regime that wants to eliminate it”, he confessed, admitting that he is working with the US to reach an agreement that prevents Iran from having nuclear weapons.

The Israeli prime minister said he was ready to accept a “temporary ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip that would allow the release of the last 20 hostages, and subsequently intended to take control of the entire Palestinian enclave.

“If there is an option for a temporary ceasefire to release hostages, we will be ready,” Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference in Jerusalem, in which he updated the number of hostages alive by 20, out of a total of 58, still held captive by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

At the same time, the head of government said that, after the new major military offensive launched last weekend, “the entire Gaza Strip will be under the control of the Israeli army” .

Netanyahu warned, however, that it was necessary to “avoid a humanitarian crisis” in order to maintain “the operational freedom of action” of the Israeli military , claiming that the intensification of attacks and restrictions on the entry of aid to the inhabitants of the territory had provoked a wave of international condemnation.

The political leader argues that “at the end” of the war, the entire territory of Gaza will be under Israeli control and Hamas will be defeated. Concerned about the need to avoid a humanitarian crisis in the first strip of land between Israel and the sea, the Israeli prime minister details a three-step plan, quoted by the BBC :

1. Bring basic relief goods to Gaza;
2. Open food distribution points by American companies protected by the Israeli army;
3. Create a zone to protect civilians after security control of Gaza is assumed.

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Benjamin Netanyahu rejected criticism from domestic political opponents and accused Yair Golan, his main opponent, of “adding fuel to the fire of global anti-Semitism.”

On Tuesday, Golan accused Israel of moving towards becoming “a pariah state” and accused the country of “killing babies as a hobby.” For the Israeli prime minister, the opposition makes these criticisms because “for them everything is political” and they will do anything to bring down the government, including lying about soldiers and stopping the war.

“We are here, together, until victory, until the end. We will fight together and, God willing, together we will win,” he concluded, quoted by the BBC, before saying that the families of the soldiers always tell him not to stop the war.