GAZA - Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar, of Hamas, carried by hand US$20 million ($29.71 million) in cash into the Gaza Strip yesterday across its border with Egypt, a Palestinian security source said.
Zahar and other senior Hamas officials have resorted to carrying cash across the Rafah bordercrossing to bypass a Western ban on bank transfers to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
Zahar was returning to the impoverished coastal strip after a more than two-week-long tour of the Middle East that included a stop in Iran. During his visit to Tehran, Zahar said Iran had donated US$120 million to the Hamas-led Government and was ready to give more.
He did not, as required, declare the money to European monitors at the Rafah crossing, a spokeswoman for the monitors said. The Rafah border crossing with Egypt is controlled by Palestinian guards loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. Europeans monitor operations there under an agreement between the Palestinians and Israel, which pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005.
Earlier this month, two Hamas politicians crossed the Egyptian border into Gaza with more than US$4 million in cash. In June, Zahar entered through Rafah with 12 suitcases stuffed with US$20 million in cash.
International donors and Israel have frozen funds to the Palestinian Authority since it came under Hamas control.
