Israel blocks Palestinian PM's $35 million

Washington Times:

Israel yesterday held up Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh for eight hours at the border to the Gaza Strip until he relinquished $35 million in cash he was carrying after a two-week trip to Iran and other Muslim countries.
The test of wills at the Rafah border crossing came amid escalating violence between Mr. Haniyeh's ruling Hamas party and the Fatah party of moderate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas gunmen seized control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in a ferocious gunbattle with Fatah-allied border guards. Later, Mr. Haniyeh's convoy came under intense fire from Fatah militants, and one of his bodyguards was killed. Hamas said the gunmen had been trying to kill the prime minister.
More than two dozen people were wounded in the fighting, deepening factional violence that has pushed the rivals closer to civil war. One of the injured was Mr. Haniyeh's 27-year-old son, Abed, the Associated Press reported.
The gunbattle erupted after Hamas militants, angry that Israel was preventing Mr. Haniyeh from returning, stormed the Rafah terminal, which is controlled by the pro-Fatah Presidential Guard under the watch of European monitors.
The Presidential Guard opened fire, setting off a gunfight. Terrified travelers ran for cover, while the European monitors who police the crossing fled.
...

So the "peace keepers" fled. They are apparently just there to present the facade of peace. The important thing is that Hamas's death cult was denied access to the $35 million that Haniyeh had picked up on this "good will" tour of Iran and Arab states. The story does not say with whom the money was left. Presumably it was with Egyptian authorities. What they plan to do with the money is also unstated. It was apparently a down payment on a pledge of $250 million from Iran as well as contributions from Qatar and Syria. Syria host the main Hamas leadership.