Qatar denies reports it funded Hamas, claims money to Gaza was transferred 'in coordination with Israeli authorities’
Gulf state, which hosts Hamas senior leaders, has long been accused of financing the terror organization
The Qatari government rejected claims in a recent New Yorker article, saying that money provided by the Gulf state was used to fund the Hamas terror organization.
The article said the money, which was reportedly intended to provide aid for Gaza, including payments to civil servants, was often diverted to Hamas for its own purposes.
It cited papers seized by the IDF in Gaza during the war, which indicated that Hamas had even expressed this to Qatari leadership.
“The Qatari grant is the main artery of the Hamas movement,” a Hamas leader told Qatar’s foreign minister in 2019, according to papers later seized by Israeli forces in Gaza.
“The October 7th attacks revealed what Qatar’s money had helped buy: Hamas forces assembled in a vast system of tunnels outfitted with ventilation systems, surveillance cameras, and communications networks; they emerged wearing body cameras and carrying anti-tank missiles,” the article continued.
In its denial, the International Media Office of the State of Qatar claimed that if money reached Hamas, it happened outside the mechanisms Qatar established.
“Qatar has never provided money to Hamas,” the office said in a statement. “Our assistance has been directed to Palestinian civilians in Gaza through mechanisms coordinated with the Israeli authorities and international partners.”
The media office claimed that all humanitarian aid, including financial assistance, passed through Israel before entering the Gaza Strip.
“Reports circulating in the Israeli media about the destination of humanitarian aid provided by Qatar to Gaza are categorically false,” the statement said.
The media office said the claims were part of the attempts by Israeli politicians to “deflect attention from domestic political failures and portray Qatar as a convenient scapegoat.”
“Any funding that may have reached Hamas outside these mechanisms had nothing to do with Qatar,” the statement claimed.
“Nothing was delivered directly by Qatar; we provided the aid, while the United Nations’ organizations carried out delivery in coordination with the Israeli authorities,” the statement continued.
The media office accused The New Yorker of engaging in “amateur” reporting.
“The piece reads more like an amateur blog than a report from a reputable publication like The New Yorker,” the Qatari statement said. “We reject these allegations in the strongest possible terms.”
You have, in fact, provided all manners of support for Hamas from financial to ideological support FOR YEARS.
— Deborah Corso (@ViadelCorso2266) September 18, 2026
● You harbored #911 attack mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. He spent 2 weeks in late 2001 hiding in Qatar with the help of prominent Qatari patrons after he… pic.twitter.com/vlCl0B025n
Despite the denials, multiple reports over the years have covered Qatari support for Hamas since the terror group seized control of Gaza in 2007, including inviting senior leaders like Khaled Meshaal to summits in Doha, and later hosting them permanently in Qatar.
Even Qatari sources have acknowledged funding Hamas. In 2023, a Qatari official told German news magazine Der Spiegel that the Gulf state transferred about $30 million per month to Hamas.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury also acknowledged Qatari funding for Hamas in 2014.
Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen in 2014:
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) September 18, 2026
"Qatar, a longtime U.S. ally, has for many years openly financed Hamas, a group that continues to undermine regional stability." https://t.co/kRG6HJ1hOU pic.twitter.com/jMxCtddfWy
Israeli news site Ynet News published an investigative report in 2024, which cited anonymous Shin Bet sources who claimed that Qatari money was being diverted to Hamas’ military wing.
A senior intelligence official involved in investigating the diversion of Qatari funds told Ynet that military intelligence passed evidence of money transfers to Hamas’ military wing to Netanyahu.
“We had evidence of official transfers,” the official said. “We saw it, documented it and passed it to the prime minister. He did nothing; he continued the policy.”
The New Yorker piece focused primarily on the role of two public relations figures who worked for Qatar, trying to improve the Gulf state’s image within Israel, and their connections to the office of Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Two aides for Netanyahu, Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, were the focus of an investigation that came to be called Qatargate in Israeli media.
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