Qatari envoy Mohammed al-Emadi has reached an agreement with Israel to allow a third disbursement of Qatari aid money into the Gaza Strip, Arab news outlets reported Thursday.
The reports said that the money, $15 million, will be transferred to Gaza in the next few days.
One senior Arab analyst denied reports that the money transfer hinged on Hamas keeping a tight rein over the weekly "march of return" protests at the Gaza-Israel border on Friday.
The analyst noted that the money would go to pay the salaries of Hamas government functionaries in the Gaza Strip, purchase fuel, and help the poor, and was being greenlighted by Israel despite criticism that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "buying" calm on the Gaza border.
According to the Arab report, Netanyahu is trying to prevent the situation in Gaza from growing worse, and therefore has an interest in letting money into the coastal enclave. Another Arab analyst suggested that Israel was permitting the money transfer to perpetuate the rift between Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.
On Sunday, Palestinian officials said the Qatari envoy was due in Israel this week and would be carrying the $15 million payment to Gaza in suitcases full of cash.
Qatar began making the monthly money transfers to Gaza last year as a way of mitigating the ongoing humanitarian crisis the residents of Gaza are enduring.
According to understandings reached with Egypt and Israel, Doha will transfer a total of $90 million in aid funds to Gaza.
Israeli officials stressed that the funds were earmarked solely for civilian functionaries' wages.
The first cash infusion was made in November. At the time, Qatar's official news agency said the funds would benefit over 60,000 public servants hired by Hamas since 2007.
