Middle East Monitor / January 27, 2020
Qatar, yesterday, disbursed financial aid to 70,000 low-income families in the occupied Gaza Strip.
Local media reported that thousands of Palestinians had gathered in front of the public post offices across the strip to receive “a $100 financial assistance for each family.”
The grant allocation was announced on Wednesday by the chairman of Qatar’s National Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, Mohammed Al-Emadi.
The funding forms part of a $30 million monthly Qatari financial payment for the reconstruction of Gaza.
Since the last Gaza war, in 2014, Qatar has with Israel’s approval provided over $1 billion in reconstruction funds and stipends for poor Palestinians. The aid has helped Doha win favour in Washington despite Qatari-Saudi diplomatic tensions.
To ease economic hardships and help calm down tensions along the border with Israel, Qatar provided more than $150 million in 2019 to buy fuel for Gaza’s lone power plant and provide monthly cash handouts to nearly 70,000 of the enclave’s needy.
