Palestinian Authority Says It Still Gives Money (Not Just Aid) to Hamas Government in Gaza Strip

Despite the Palestinian Authority (PA)’s criticism of Hamas for the disaster and ruin it has brought to the Gaza Strip, the PA not only continues to urge Hamas to join the PLO, but also continues to provide funding for the Hamas-ruled Strip.

Earlier this month, PA Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa assured Hamas that the PA would continue to “provide the operational budget and salaries to fund different activities.”

The sum of this continued PA support — which in essence also supports Hamas and other Gaza terror organizations’ activities — comes to “275 million shekels every month.” This is not humanitarian aid, because Prime Minister Mustafa added that the PA also provides “welfare aid, food aid, and other aid” and additional “monetary aid of 233 million shekels”:

PA Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa: “The [PA] government has continued to provide the operational budget and salaries to fund different activities in the Gaza Strip, at a sum of 275 million [Israeli] shekels (over $73.2 million -Ed.) every month, or 3.3 billion shekels (over $878.8 million -Ed.) per year.

The government is continuing to provide welfare aid, food aid, and other aid to more than 400,000 families of our people in the Gaza Strip, in addition to monetary aid to approximately 210,000 families at a sum of approximately 233 million shekels (over $62 million -Ed.) through the [PA] Ministry of Social Development, in coordination with the humanitarian organizations and the UN organizations.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Oct. 8, 2024]

A few days ago, a member of the Palestinian National Council — the legislative body of the PLO — and senior Fatah Movement official Abdallah Abdallah stated that “Fatah and Hamas held positive talks regarding assembling a joint committee to manage the Gaza Strip the day after the war.” [Erem News, UAE-based news website, Oct. 23, 2024]

This follows Abbas’ advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash’s recent call on Hamas to join the PLO “so we can all unite against” Israel.

Al-Habbash patronized Hamas, comparing the PLO’s caring for Hamas to that of a “father or mother of the child” with whom they “disagree but wish the best for”:

Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “We in the PLO understand that we are like the father or mother of the child. We cannot wish anything but all the best for our people or our Palestinian factions, regardless of what their views are or whether we agree or disagree with them.

But we just want all of us to join this one Palestinian home whose name is the PLO so that we all unite against the occupation [i.e., Israel].” [emphasis added]

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Oct. 18, 2024]

Another top PA official, Jibril Rajoub, has similarly expressed optimism that PA/Fatah and Hamas have come closer and stated that they are “building a partnership”:

Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “When this [Gaza war] aggression took place, the [Fatah] Central Committee convened. We made the following decisions: We view what has happened as a war and aggression of the Israelis against our people. They are the ones who are responsible, and what happened [on Oct. 7] is a response and a defensive measure for our people and our cause … \

To my knowledge, the ongoing bilateral talks [with Hamas] have created a strategic basis and rapprochement between us and Hamas, which will lead in the end to building a partnership.” [emphasis added]

[Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, Facebook page, Oct. 16, 2024]

The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.

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