Palestinian Authority Threatens to Cut Off All Financing to Gaza

PLO leadership abbas
ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty

The Jerusalem Post reports: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday threatened to gradually cut all funding to the Gaza Strip until Hamas agreed to reconcile with Fatah.

He declared his intentions during a meeting in Ramallah with Meretz head Zehava Gal- On, whose office later reported his statement. “We transfer $1.5 billion a year [to Hamas in Gaza],” he said, adding that he had already cut 25% of that amount.

Abbas is in the midst of a push to regain control of Gaza, a decade after Hamas took over the Strip from Fatah in a bloody coup. He has imposed a series of stiff economic sanctions, including reduced funding for electricity. Abbas told Gal-On that if the situation with Hamas did not change soon, “we’ll gradually reduce our [financial] support to Gaza by 100%.”

Read more here.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.