JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Hamas terror organization has threatened an escalation in violence on Israel’s southern border unless Israel allows financial aid from Qatar and an increase in electricity in to Gaza.
A senior Hamas source made the threat in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar on Tuesday. The source in a statement published in the newspaper also warned that Hamas may not be able to prevent independent attempts of Gazan Palestinians to cross the border into Israel to commit terror attacks. He said that the situation in Gaza is “heating up.”
“The factions have given the interlocutors a direct threat: If the enemy does not implement the understandings, allowing entry of the Qatari funds and increasing the quantity of electricity by this weekend, they will move to escalate on the ground,” the Hamas source told the newspaper.
Israel has allowed Qatar to distribute cash to needy Gazan families, including $15 million in January.
Another $25 million from Qatar is scheduled to be disbursed at the end of the week.
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