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Palestinian Authority Says It Still Gives Money (Not Just Aid) to Hamas Government in Gaza Strip
Mahmoud al-Aloul, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of Palestinian organization and political party Fatah, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and Mussa Abu Marzuk, senior member of the Palestinian terror movement Hamas, attend an event at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on July 23, 2024. Photo: Pedro Pardo/Pool via REUTERS
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.
The post Palestinian Authority Says It Still Gives Money (Not Just Aid) to Hamas Government in Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.