The IDF is prepared to act against Hamas when the time is right, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned, during a visit to the IDF’s Gaza Division on Tuesday, the day after a Hamas rocket attack.
“We will act at the time, place and in conditions that suit us, and not anyone else,” Bennett said. “As far as we’re concerned, Hamas is to blame, not rebels or anyone else but Hamas. “Our mission is to bring long-term security to the residents of the South and the Gaza envelope,” the prime minister stated.
Bennett added that he saw on his visit that the Gaza Division and Southern Command are “appropriately prepared.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz added that “Israel is determined to defend itself and will know how to do it.” Israel’s only interests“ are quiet, security and the return of our boys, home,” a reference to civilian captives Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, as well as the bodies of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, whom Hamas has held since 2014.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi, National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata, OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Eliezer Toledano and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj.-Gen. Ghassan Alyan were at the meeting, as well.
Bennett and Gantz also met with soldiers operating Iron Dome batteries and thanked them for their important contributions to Israel’s security.
Gantz said Israel will facilitate humanitarian aid funded by Qatar and others to the people of Gaza as long as it will “reach the right places.”
“We are not the enemies of the Gazan people,” Gantz stated. “The real enemy is Hamas, which is taking Gaza residents hostage.”
A source in Hamas claimed that Qatari aid money to over 100,000 families in Gaza would be delivered in the coming days, channeled through the UN.
However, a source close to Bennett said that there has been progress towards distributing funds to needy families in Gaza, but it has not been fully worked out yet. In addition, the payment of salaries to employees of the Hamas-controlled government in Gaza remains stuck.
One reason for the delay, the source said, is that Israel wants to see a clear paper trail, to ensure that it is not going to terrorists.
“It won’t be foolproof, but we want to be able to track what [Hamas is] doing with the money,” he stated.
The source also said that by shooting rockets into Israel and threatening war Hamas only serves to delay the process: “I don’t think it’ll change our behavior.... When they try to fire things up, we have to figure out how to respond.... Every time they do that they have to pay a price, and we can’t move forward [with channeling aid into Gaza] right after.”
In addition, the source explained, “for [Hamas, aid] is the most pressing thing. Our main focus right now is on coronavirus. We can’t move at racing speed on this issue. The Americans, the UN and lots of other people are also preoccupied with Afghanistan and other things.”
In Ramallah, a Palestinian Authority official said that Qatar and the UN have apparently reached agreement on the disbursement of the funds to needy families.
“The Palestinian Authority is aware of the negotiations to find a solution to the problem,” the official said. “We had offered to transfer the money through the Palestinian banks.”
According to the official, the banks refused to cooperate for fear of being exposed to lawsuits on the grounds of funding terrorism.
The PA has in the past few months insisted that any financial aid to the Gaza Strip must go only through the Ramallah-based government headed by Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh.On Monday, Egypt rebuked Hamas after the firing of a rocket from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip said. “The Egyptians delivered a strong message to Hamas that it must give the mediators more time to reach a solution,” they said.
Hadas Labrisch contributed to this report.