Palestinian PM Says Ready to Distribute Qatari Grant Funds in Gaza

A worker carries out reconstruction in Gaza. (AP)
A worker carries out reconstruction in Gaza. (AP)
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Palestinian PM Says Ready to Distribute Qatari Grant Funds in Gaza

A worker carries out reconstruction in Gaza. (AP)
A worker carries out reconstruction in Gaza. (AP)

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said his government is ready to distribute the funds of the Qatari grant to the Gaza Strip through the Ministry of Social Affairs.

During a cabinet meeting on Monday, he welcomed cooperation with Qatar to alleviate the suffering in the impoverished coastal enclave.

The PM’s proposal resolves a long-standing dispute on how to access the grant.

Israel has halted the transfer of the funds since the end of the latest round of hostilities between it and Gaza militants in May. Israel has been demanding that the funds be transferred through the Palestinian Authority and United Nations to avoid them falling in the hands of the Hamas movement.

Salama Marouf, chairman of the government's media office in Gaza, had last week announced that an agreement was reached over the grant.

Shtayyeh urged the international community and the United States, in particular, to work on ending the Israeli policies of persecution, racism, and ethnic cleansing committed against Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods.

He said the Israeli judicial system is covering up oppressive Israeli policies against the Palestinian people throughout the occupied territories.

The PM slammed such policies that represent a violation of international laws and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

He cited a Human Rights Watch report that accused Israeli authorities of committing crimes against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians.



Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Kill at Least 20 People

Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader  BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE
Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE
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Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Kill at Least 20 People

Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader  BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE
Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE

Palestinian medics say Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 20 people.
One of the strikes overnight and into Monday hit a tent camp in the Muwasi area, an Israel-declared humanitarian zone, killing eight people, including two children.
That’s according to the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies.
Hospital records show another six killed in a strike on people securing an aid convoy and another two killed in a strike on a car in Muwasi. One person was killed in a separate strike in the area,The Associated Press reported.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah said three bodies arrived after an airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp.
The Israeli military says it only strikes militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians. It said late Sunday that it had targeted a Hamas fighter in the humanitarian zone.
The war began when a Hamas-led group attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Around 100 captives are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says women and children make up more than half the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. The military says it has killed over 17,000 of Hamas, without providing evidence.