Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah said on Monday that the terror organization turned down the offer of $15 billion in development aid [which would greatly relieve the dire living conditions of Gazan citizens] since it was conditioned on its demilitarization. Haniyeh said in a video interview with the Qatari news outlet Lusail News that the offer was made two months ago as part of Trump’s Deal of the Century – the “Prosperity to Peace” plan released in January. Haniyeh said that “two parties paid off by major powers” offered Hamas new projects worth about $15 billion in the Gaza Strip, including an airport, port and other economic development projects as well as end to the blockade on the Strip which has devastated its economy. Hamas would have to eliminate its military arm, giving up its weapons and cooperate with the Palestinian Authority police. “Of course we said this is excellent,” Haniyeh said, “we want to establish an airport, port and economic development projects in the Gaza Strip.” However, the leader added, it would have meant accepting Israel as a Jewish state, which contradicts its founding charter. “Our principle is Palestine from the river to the sea, the right of return, the liberation of prisoners and the establishment of a full sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Haniyeh said. It should be mentioned that a wave of suicides has been reported in recent months in the Gaza Strip due to its citizens’ difficult financial straits. “We want to eat, we want to live,” was the slogan that protesters chanted in a protest in Gaza City earlier this month. According to a Channel 20 News report, there have been 60 unexplained deaths of Gazans under the age of 30 in the last four months as unemployment has risen. Several of the Gazans who committed suicide were released prisoners who had been tortured by Hamas due to their participation in protests against the difficult economic conditions in Gaza in 2019. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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