Qatar says its aid did not fund Hamas, and if it did, 'Israel is responsible'

Statement responds to New Yorker story saying Doha’s payments to Gaza ‘helped buy’ terror group’s pre-Oct. 7 arms buildup; Qatar: Money was for civilians and was overseen by Israel

By Lazar Berman

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and ToI Staff Today, 3:40 pm

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Qatar has firmly rejected allegations in a New Yorker article that its monthly cash payments to Gaza helped fund Hamas’s military wing prior to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, onslaught, saying on Monday that Israel was to blame if any of the money reached the terror group.

According to the Friday article, which cited papers seized by Israel, a Hamas leader told Qatar’s foreign minister in 2019 that “the Qatari grant is the main artery of the Hamas movement.”

“The October 7th attacks revealed what Qatar’s money had helped buy,” the article said. Describing the onslaught, it continued, “Hamas forces assembled in a vast system of tunnels outfitted with ventilation systems, surveillance cameras, and communications networks; they emerged wearing body cameras and carrying antitank missiles.”

In its statement, Qatar’s International Media Office insisted the allegations in the New Yorker story were “based on falsified and fabricated information.” It claimed money from Qatar was directed to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, “coordinated with the Israeli authorities and international partners.”

The statement added, “Under previous aid mechanisms, all financial assistance, as well as goods such as food, medicine and fuel, passed through Israel before entering Gaza. Nothing was delivered without Israeli involvement at every stage of the process.”

The article is the latest entry in a long-running debate over Qatar’s monthly cash payments to Gaza, which began in 2018 with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approval but which his critics have since said were used to fund Hamas’s terror capabilities. Netanyahu publicly described the payments, which according to the New Yorker ran up to $30 million per month, as a means to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the Strip and to maintain calm.

Statement by the International Media Office of the State of Qatar in response to false allegations published by The New Yorkerhttps://t.co/Q2Rg1tfT0c pic.twitter.com/I5kiecpY67

— Qatar's International Media Office (@IMO_Qatar) September 21, 2026

Qatar in its statement said the payments were directed at Palestinian civilians. If any of it went to Hamas, the Gulf state said, that was the fault of Israeli governments led by Netanyahu as well as the two prime ministers who briefly unseated him from 2021-2022, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. It also blamed Israeli intelligence agencies.

“Qatar’s aid has been provided over many years under successive Israeli governments, with the involvement of Israel’s security agencies,” the statement said. “If any funding reached Hamas, it had nothing to do with Qatar. In fact, responsibility would fall on Israel who oversaw the delivery, including under Bennett, Lapid and Netanyahu, and through the various agencies including Mossad and Shin Bet.”

During the time Qatar was sending the payments to Gaza, the country also hosted Hamas’s political leadership. Following the October 7 attack, Qatar continued hosting senior Hamas political officials while also working as a mediator between Israel and Hamas.

Senior aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (from left): Topaz Luk, Eli Feldstein and Jonatan Urich. (Flash90)

A report in Yedioth Ahronoth, published on the same day as the New Yorker article, revealed new details about the extent to which Israeli intelligence, as well as Egypt, believed Qatari money was funding Hamas’s military wing prior to the October 7 attack, including an assessment that it accounted for as much as half of the wing’s entire budget. The report said Netanyahu was informed of this fact several times, but ignored it.

Netanyahu’s office rejected that investigation as “a collection of recycled lies that have already been disproven in the past,” maintaining that Israel’s security chiefs had supported the Qatari grants because they were intended for humanitarian purposes and were expected to help maintain calm in Gaza.

The New Yorker investigation largely focused on the scandal known as “Qatargate,” involving allegations that aides to Netanyahu working in, or with, Netanyahu’s office were paid by Qatar to improve the emirate’s image.