NYT: Netanyahu government supported funding for Hamas

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported the financing of Hamas from Qatar for years.

The Netanyahu government hoped that this would help maintain order and peace in the Gaza Strip, The New York Times (NYT) writes with reference to sources.

" For years, the Qatari government had been sending millions of dollars a month into the Gaza Strip — money that helped prop up the Hamas government there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel not only tolerated those payments, he had encouraged them," the publication said.

It is noted that the money was handed over in the presence of Israeli intelligence officers even when there were large-scale Hamas exercises on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) received plans for an attack by the radical group.