Report: UAE demands Hamas stop rockets attacks or face halt in investments

The UAE has reportedly threatened Hamas it will cease all infrastructure and economic investments in the Gaza Strip if it fails to come to a ceasefire agreement with Jerusalem in the near future. 

“We are still ready and willing to promote civil projects in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority and under UN management [in Gaza], but our necessary condition is calm,” an unnamed UAE official told the Israeli financial daily Globes over the weekend.

“If Hamas does not commit to complete calm, it is dooming the residents of the Strip to a life of suffering. Its leaders must understand that their policies are first and foremost hurting the people of Gaza.” 

The Israeli daily also reports that according to the Emirati official, an energy-related project was to be launched this summer in Gaza but may now face defunding as a result of the fighting. 

In September 2020, the UAE and Bahrain signed a historic normalization agreement with Israel, dubbed the Abraham Accords, during a ceremony at the White House. 

The deal has brought a myriad of benefits between the Jewish state and its Gulf Arab neighbors, including investment, visa-free travel, and potential new interlocutors regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

Former Palestinian government minister, Mohammed Dahlan, who fled the West Bank to the Emirates due to a falling out with President Mahmoud Abbas, has close ties to the Hamas leadership.

He was one of the few Palestinian leaders to support the normalization agreements between Israel and the Gulf countries, promoting the expected benefits for the Palestinians from these agreements.

The latest round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip is the deadliest conflagration of hostilities since 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, with Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists firing upwards of 2,000 rockets at the Jewish state since Monday.