A bombshell months-long investigative probe from Israel’s Channel 12 News has laid bare a 12-year state policy orchestrated under successive Israeli prime ministers, most prominently Benjamin Netanyahu, that actively pressured Qatar to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars in untraceable cash into the blockaded Gaza Strip, even as top Israeli security officials repeatedly flagged that the inflow was directly bolstering Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in the enclave. The policy, which remained largely concealed even from mid-ranking officials within Israel’s own security apparatus, traces its origins back to a clandestine 2011 Paris summit hosted by then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy. At that closed-door meeting, Netanyahu sat across from Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, who first extended an offer to mediate the release of Israeli captive soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas since 2006, alongside a pledge to deliver critical construction materials to Gaza to repair damage from prior Israeli military campaigns. Though Shalit was ultimately freed later that same year via Egyptian mediation, the quiet diplomatic opening between Jerusalem and Doha quickly evolved into a formalized, unwritten arrangement that would define Gaza’s economic trajectory for more than a decade. By 2012, Israel had granted Qatari diplomatic envoys unrestricted access to the Gaza Strip, and Doha committed to disbursing $400 million in reconstruction and humanitarian aid to the territory. In the aftermath of the devastating 2014 Gaza war, the partnership was formally institutionalized: Qatar rolled out a $1 billion recovery package, and Israeli authorities gave full, top-level sign-off for Qatari operatives to smuggle duffel bags stuffed with millions of dollars in US banknotes directly into the enclave, bypassing the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority entirely. The central figure overseeing these cash runs was Mohammed al-Emadi, Qatar’s long-serving special envoy to Gaza, who cultivated close personal ties with senior Israeli military, intelligence, and national security officials over his years of operating under the policy. Initially, the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, opened a formal inquiry into Emadi’s unusual cross-border cash shipments, only to shut the investigation down abruptly after confirming the transfers had explicit, direct authorization from Prime Minister Netanyahu himself. Internal Israeli security assessments, shared repeatedly with Netanyahu’s office over the years, warned that a significant share of the Qatari cash was being diverted by Hamas to fund military infrastructure, militant recruitment, and operational preparedness, rather than being spent exclusively on civilian humanitarian needs. Despite these persistent, well-documented warnings, Netanyahu repeatedly rejected alternative proposals from military leadership that would have rerouted the Qatari aid through the Palestinian Authority and distributed it in local Israeli shekels, insisting instead that funds be delivered in hard US dollars directly to Hamas-linked representatives inside Gaza. When Qatar attempted to step away from the funding arrangement in 2020, Netanyahu dispatched then-Mossad director Yossi Cohen on a regional diplomatic mission to find replacement funders: Cohen first held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and then-Abu Dhabi ruler Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, both of whom declined to take over Doha’s role. Cohen was subsequently sent to Doha to lobby Qatari leadership to reverse their decision, a request the Gulf state ultimately granted, extending the cash transfer program through to 2023. The Channel 12 investigation also uncovered evidence that al-Emadi distributed high-value gifts worth tens of thousands of Israeli shekels to dozens of senior Israeli officials across the military, Mossad, and National Security Council during the course of the program, including current Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Effie Defrin, who received gifts from the Qatari envoy in 2022 while serving in a prior senior role within the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. The report confirms that Netanyahu’s successor Naftali Bennett also upheld the controversial funding policy, ignoring identical security warnings about Hamas’s growing military strength. Most damningly, the investigation reveals that just seven days before the October 7, 2023, cross-border attacks by Hamas that killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and saw 250 civilians and soldiers taken hostage, Netanyahu issued a formal instruction to Mossad leadership to negotiate an additional round of Qatari funding for Gaza. The explosive findings have sparked widespread public backlash across Israel, with critics arguing the years-long policy of propping up Hamas’s finances directly enabled the deadliest militant incursion in the country’s 75-year history.
Netanyahu pressed Qatar to continue funding Gaza despite security warnings, report finds
