Palestinians in Gaza to receive new Qatari financial aid

Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip will receive a new tranche of financial aid donated by the gas-rich Persian Gulf state of Qatar.

News ID: 445459

Date: 18 June 2019 - 16:10

RNA - Media reports quoting unnamed Qatari officials reported on Monday that the money was brought into the Palestinian enclave Sunday evening by a Qatari envoy to Gaza.

The cash grant of 10 million US dollars was to be distributed to more than 100,000 impoverished Gazan families all over the coastal sliver, with each receiving 100 dollars.

Another 15 million dollars would be provided for infrastructure and cash-for-work projects.

In early May, Qatar allocated nearly half a billion US dollars in aid to the Palestinian Authority as well as the Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, in order to support education and health services and provide urgent humanitarian relief.

Qatar has committed to providing $15 million a month into Gaza under an informal agreement struck last November.

On January 24, Hamas turned down Qatari funds over Israel’s change of conditions due to the unrest along the border fence between the strip and the Israeli-occupied territories, criticizing Tel Aviv for imposing new conditions on the money entering the blockaded Palestinian territory.

Hamas has recently announced a series of new measures to support low-income families, improve electricity infrastructure, expand imports and exports and ensure unemployed university graduates find work.

Gaza has also witnessed tensions since March 30, 2018 which marked the start of the Great March of Return protests, with participants demanding the right to return for those driven out of their homeland.

The coastal sliver of land has been under a crippling siege by Israel since 2007 and witnessed three wars since 2008.

According to the United Nations, around 80 percent of Palestinians in Gaza are reliant on international aid.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has already canceled all US funding to the UN aid program for Palestinian refugees, part of a policy to impose maximum pressure on the Palestinians to satisfy Israeli interests and Zionist constituencies in the US.

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