Middle East Monitor / September 11, 2021
Qatar’s envoy to Gaza Mohammed al-Emadi announced on Friday that efforts to send his country’s aid to the Gaza Strip have failed after the Palestinian Authority (PA) backed out of an earlier deal that would have seen it play a role in transferring the funds.
On Monday, Al-Emadi announced a deal reached with the PA, which agreed to pay the Qatari aid to low-income families and employees of the Hamas-run government in Gaza.
He said that the banks had refused to participate, fearing that they could be targeted by sanctions for transferring money to “terror groups”.
Following the end of the Israeli offensive on Gaza between 11 and 21 May, Qatar pledged $500 million to rebuild Gaza.
The PA rescinded the deal after a meeting with a number of US Congress members, including Chris Murphy, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism.
Murphy, who also met with Israeli officials, said that he did not sense that the PA is strong enough to be involved in the aiding and reconstruction of Gaza. “So we’re going to have to put together some international consortium,” Murphy explained.
