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Israeli PM says cares more about Palestinians than their leaders do

Xinhua, August 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he and Israel care more about the Palestinians than their own leaders do, following recent revelations over abuse of aid funds in the Gaza Strip.

"I, the prime minister of Israel, and Israel, care more about Palestinians than their own leaders do," Netanyahu said at the start of a video statement posted on his Facebook page on Thursday.

The Israeli prime minister addressed two affairs in the past week, in which workers in aid organizations in the Gaza Strip allegedly transferred funds to Hamas, the Islamist organization controlling the Palestinian enclave.

"A few days ago, the world learned that Hamas stole millions of dollars from humanitarian organizations like World Vision and the United Nations," the prime minister said.

He charged the group of using the money to "build a war machine to murder Jews," while "innocent and impoverished Palestinians are denied vital aid."

Netanyahu also mentioned Israel allows the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and treating some Palestinian citizens in Israeli hospitals.

"Imagine where we might be if Palestinian leaders cared about helping their own people as much as hurting our people...the Palestinian people deserve better," he concluded.

On Tuesday, Israeli authorities said Waheed Borsch, a 38-year-old engineer from Gaza working in the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), abused his position to help Hamas with "material assistance."

In a separate affair revealed last Thursday, authorities claimed Mohammed El-Halabi, director of the Gaza office of a U.S. charity organization called World Vision, funneled 7.2 million U.S. dollars a year to Hamas over five years.

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, along with the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights territories, during the 1967 Mideast War. It evacuated its settlers and soldiers from the strip in 2005, which has been ruled by the Hamas movement ever since.

Israel imposed a blockade on the strip in the wake of Hamas' takeover, allowing a restricted transfer of goods in and out of the enclave and limiting most exits and entries of people.

The two sides have fought several rounds of fighting in the past decade. The latest round, in summer 2014, claimed the lives of more than 2,200 Palestinians and over 70 Israelis, leaving thousands of Palestinians homeless. Endit