GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — As Gazans continue to participate in mass protests amid heightened frustrations at their dire humanitarian situation, Qatari aid and infrastructure projects in the besieged strip have been dying out following the blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt since June 2017.

An Israeli study by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University found that the blockading quartet is working to stop the Qatari aid that enters through Israel from reaching the civilian population in Gaza. The researchers argue that Israel believes the Qatari support will help delay the inevitable confrontation between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The study stresses the difficulty and complexity of transferring the aid to Gaza since the blockade. Egypt has halted the movement of goods and raw materials from Qatar through the Rafah crossing and is pressuring Israel to do the same. The study suggests that increasing Qatari influence in Gaza would escalate tension between Israel and the Egyptian regime.

On March 17, the New Arab reported the formation of a US-Egyptian-Israeli committee to carry out humanitarian and relief tasks in Gaza, disregarding the Palestinian Authority and directly coordinating with US institutions linked to nongovernmental organizations in the Gaza Strip in order to maintain calm and avoid a humanitarian disaster in Gaza. The newspaper pointed out that the committee is basically working to reduce Qatar’s humanitarian role in the Strip, with which Egypt has become concerned as it struggles to regain control of the Palestinian dossier.