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Hamas to Israel: $8 million by tomorrow or else

If Israel does not fulfill these demands, the relative quiet along Israel’s southern border will end, Hamas threatened.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Gaza-based terror group Hamas is demanding that Israel fulfill a number of conditions, including transferring some $8 million in aid money, by Tuesday, or face actions that could dismantle the current Israeli government, Palestinian daily Al-Ayan reported.

Hamas is also demanding the full release of Qatari funding for Gaza, an end to the restrictions which prevent Gazans from approaching the border fence with Israel, easier movement for Gazans that wish to travel to Jordan, and family reunification permits for some 19,000 Gazans married to Israeli citizens, which would normalize their status in the Jewish State.

If Israel does not fulfill these demands, the relative quiet along Israel’s southern border since May 2021’s Operation Guardian of the Walls clash will come to an end, the group threatened.

The warning that Hamas has the power to create a conflict with the potential to upend Israel’s current ruling coalition appears to be a reference to the unstable nature of the government, which is comprised of parties spanning from the left to right ends of the political spectrum.

Islamist party Ra’am stopped negotiations around joining the Israeli government in May 2021 when the IDF was engaged bombing Hamas targets in the Strip.

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On Monday, MK Michal Rozin from the left-wing Meretz party threatened to topple the government if Prime Minister Naftali Bennett officially recognizes Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

“If Gantz gives in the settler pressure and stops the recognition of a small Palestinian village, while at the same time the government advances building projects in Jerusalem after 30 years, that is a violation of the [coalition] agreement that no steps should be taken that are not in the consensus,” she tweeted.

“We, the parties which do not believe in the annexation of territories will declare clearly that this government has no mandate to do this.”

News agency JDN suggested that Hamas is happy with the Bennett government, which has allowed the entry of building materials into the Strip along with other concessions, and does not actually want the current government to fall.