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Gaza man arrested for diverting building materials to Hamas
The Shin Bet internal security agency yesterday announced that it arrested a 36-year-old Gazan man who had transferred hundreds of tons of building materials to Hamas, which had been intended for Gaza’s reconstruction.
Tamer Ahmed Muhammad Barim, from Bani Suheila in the Gaza Strip, was arrested on 31 August at the Erez Crossing which facilitates much of the material bound for Gaza. In the wake of Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014, Israel agreed a mechanism with the Palestinian Authority (PA), overseen by the United Nations, which would facilitate the import of goods into Gaza while ensuring that materials which could be used for military purposes do not reach Hamas.
However, the Shin Bet said that Barim had circumvented the mechanism to supply Hamas with large quantities of building materials, “financed by donor countries and other agencies … for the rehabilitation of the civilian infrastructures in the Gaza Strip.” The announcement said that the incident highlighted “Hamas’s cynical exploitation of donated funds and material.” Barim was indicted in a Beer Sheva court last month for three crimes against the security of the state.
The Shin Bet added that the security establishment “intends to continue its efforts to foil attempts to smuggle building materials for terrorist purposes.” In September, Shin Bet and customs officers intercepted 15 tons of sulfuric acid, a key component for explosives, which were heading for the Gaza Strip. In March, Israel’s Defence Ministry said that since the start of 2015, more than 100 attempts “to smuggle forbidden goods and substances” had been thwarted by Israeli forces. Hamas is thought to be rearming, developing new rockets and complex tunnels designed to attack Israel.
During 2015, Israel has introduced a range of measures meant to ease movement in and out of the Gaza Strip, in order to aid reconstruction. These include an increased number of entry and exit permits to Gaza merchants and facilitating the export of significant produce to the West Bank, an important market for the Gaza economy.