[Regnum] Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz accused the Iranian authorities of directly financing the radical Palestinian movement Hamas. This was reported on April 6 by the press service of the Defense Ministry.
Katz said that on April 6 he visited the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "intelligence unit" created after the conflict escalated on October 7, 2023.
"I was presented with a secret document found in the tunnels of Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip. It proves direct links between Iran and Hamas leaders, as well as Iran's support for Hamas' plan to destroy Israel and the October 7 attack," Katz said.
According to the Israeli Defense Minister, in the document that was found, Hamas demands $500 million from the elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, the elite unit of the Iranian Armed Forces) to finance the destruction of Israel. In addition, Katz claims that the head of the Palestinian branch of the IRGC, Saeed Izadi, responded to the request and assured that Iran would continue to invest in Hamas, despite its difficult economic situation. The minister specified that Hamas received the requested funds.
According to Katz, this episode proves that “Iran is the head of the snake.” The head of the Israeli Defense Ministry assured that the country will do everything to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and will continue to strike its “terrorist satellites” until “the Iranian axis of evil collapses.”
Earlier, Regnum reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Defense Minister Katz to give a tough response to the rocket fire from Gaza. In turn, the head of the Defense Ministry ordered the continuation and expansion of the military operation against Hamas in Gaza.
On April 4, the IDF launched a ground military operation in the Ash-Shujaiya area in the eastern Gaza City in the northern part of the eponymous sector. It was specified that such a decision was made to "expand the security zone."
Earlier, on March 31, the UN accused the Israeli army of killing 15 medical workers and rescuers in the Gaza Strip. They were then buried in a mass grave in southern Gaza, and their ambulances and a UN mission vehicle were covered with sand using a bulldozer. The body of one of the doctors was found with his hands tied.
On April 4, Dmitry Polyansky, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, said that he was shocked by the news of the discovery of mass graves of humanitarian workers in the Gaza Strip. The Russian diplomat emphasized that at least 408 humanitarian workers have died in the Palestinian enclave since October 2023.