Robert Serry, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, denied a report on Saturday that he tried to funnel $20 million to Hamas in the Gaza Strip against Israel's wishes.

In a conversation with Haaretz Saturday evening, Serry rejected Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's claims that he was trying to make an end run around Israel and the Palestinian Authority in order to transfer the funds. "It's crazy," Serry said, adding, "Those accusations are baseless."

Earlier on Saturday, Israel's Channel 2 news reported that Lieberman sought to have Serry, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's envoy to the region, declared persona non grata and expelled from Israel, for supposedly trying to direct $20 million to Hamas in Gaza via Qatar, to pay the salaries of government employees there. Lieberman's aides later confirmed the report.

According to Lieberman, after both the Palestinian Authority and Israel refused Serry's request to serve as a conduit for the funds, the envoy has been trying to affect the transfer using other means.

Lieberman's aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Foreign Ministry is upset with Serry over a series of unbalanced, anti-Israel announcements that Serry has issued in the past several weeks. The sources in the Foreign Ministry characterized one of these statements, which accused Israel of disrupting this year's Holy Fire ceremony, celebrated in Jerusalem by the Greek Orthodox Church, as a provocation against Israel.

Serry rebuffed Lieberman's claims about the attempts to transfer funds to Gaza, saying he acted with full transparency vis-a-vis the Israeli authorities. The envoy said that two weeks ago, he made a visit to Qatar that was scheduled in advance. During the visit, he discussed with senior Qatari officials the situation in the Gaza Strip, but not the payroll crisis. As a result of a dispute with the PA leadership in Ramallah, hundreds of thousands of government-employed teachers, doctors, police officers and other workers have not received their salaries. Over the past few days, there have been reports that Qatar wants to help solve the payroll crisis.

Serry told Haaretz that a few days ago, he received a phone call from Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, who spoke to him informally about the payroll crisis in Gaza, the possibility of receiving Qatari assistance and the potential UN role in facilitating it. Serry said he made it clear to Hamdallah that he would only be able to be of assistance if Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas consent to the move.

"I told [Hamdallah and COGAT officials] what I told the Qataris – that in order for the UN to get involved we need the agreement of all relevant parties. It is just not true that I wanted us (the UN) to do it without their consent," Serry said.

Serry added that he immediately shared this information with the Israeli authorities in the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, who told him Israel was willing for Qatar to send money to buy fuel in order to ease the energy crisis in the Gaza Strip, but not to pay salaries.

Serry also told Haaretz that he was surprised to hear about Lieberman's plan to declare him persona non grata, saying, "I am perplexed to hear about it first from the media. No Israeli official approached me on this."

On Sunday, Lieberman will convene a meeting of senior Foreign Ministry figures to discuss the possibility of expelling Serry. Despite the fact that such a step is unprecedented not only in Israel but also in any Western nation, Lieberman apparently did not inform Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his intention to expel the UN envoy.

In the wake of reports of Lieberman's plans, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement reporting a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and Ban Ki-moon. According to the statement, Netanyahu emphasized to the UN head "that Israel opposes the transfer of funds from Qatar to Hamas."

According to associates of Lieberman, in the event a decision is taken in the Foreign Ministry meeting Sunday morning to expel Serry, the Foreign Ministry will ask for Netanyahu's approval of the move.

The professional staff of the Foreign Ministry is opposed to the measure, which they believe will lead to a serious breach with the UN and to widespread international criticism. Figures in COGAT and the Defense Ministry also expressed opposition to the move. One military official noted that two months ago Lieberman pushed for Serry's expulsion from Israel because of his critical statements, but the Defense Ministry blocked the move.

Meretz Chairwoman Zahava Gal-On called on the prime minister on Sunday to publicly denounce Lieberman's attacks against Serry.

"Lieberman's statements just go to show how reckless it was to leave Israel's foreign policy in the hands of a diplomatic pyromaniac," she said.

