MADRID, Jan 19 (Reuters) – European Union Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell said on Friday that Israel had financed Hamas with the aim of weakening the Palestinian Authority.
“Yes, Hamas was financed by the government of Israel in an attempt to weaken the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority,” Josep Borrell said in a speech at the University of Valladolid, without elaborating on the idea.
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, carried out an attack in southern Israel on October 7 that left around 1,200 people dead. In retaliation, the Jewish state launched a vast military operation in the Palestinian enclave with the declared objective of eradicating the Islamist movement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects accusations from his opponents in Israel and some international media that his successive governments have actively worked for years to strengthen Hamas in Gaza. (Written by Inti Landauro, French version Bertrand Boucey, edited by Sophie Louet)
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