Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson, Omar Dostri, responded this afternoon (Monday) to opposition leader Yair Lapid’s claims that Israel funds humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Israel and the United States are working in full coordination and through various means to disconnect aid from Hamas. Israel does not fund humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip,” said Dostri.

Earlier, Lapid hinted in the Knesset plenum that Israel is behind the aid. “Is the State of Israel behind two shell companies established in Switzerland and the United States to organize and fund humanitarian aid in Gaza? Is Israeli taxpayers’ money funding aid today?”

Lapid further stated, “If this money is Israeli and the government is hiding it, this is not only a fraud against Israeli citizens—it is one of the greatest diplomatic blunders in the country’s history. If our tax money is buying humanitarian aid, funding food and medicine for children in Gaza, let’s gain from this on the international stage. Let’s open newscasts worldwide with something good Israel has done in Gaza.”

He concluded, “Maybe Ben Gvir and Smotrich won’t like it, and maybe Smotrich is afraid they’ll know he transferred the money, but the money has already been transferred. This is good for Israeli public diplomacy, good for Israeli foreign relations, and even good for Jewish values.”