Israel to Allow Qatari Funds into Gaza

Israeli soldiers playing chess on the border with Gaza (AP)
Israeli soldiers playing chess on the border with Gaza (AP)
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Israel to Allow Qatari Funds into Gaza

Israeli soldiers playing chess on the border with Gaza (AP)
Israeli soldiers playing chess on the border with Gaza (AP)

Israel will work to facilitate the arrival of the Qatari grant to the Gaza Strip, announced Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

Gantz said Israel would facilitate humanitarian aid funded by Qatar and others to the people of Gaza as long as it will “reach the right places.”

Earlier, an Israeli official announced that significant progress had been made in finding a mechanism to deliver the Qatari grant to needy families in Gaza through the United Nations.

Sources noted that Israel and the UN reached an agreement on delivering $100 to needy families, given that it does not include Hamas employees.

The Israeli official confirmed that the money would arrive soon, but there is no agreement on the salaries of government employees.

Qatar agreed to provide the Strip with $30 million a month, $100 to be paid to about 100,000 families, in addition to the salaries of government employees.

The grant contributed to putting an end to the marches on the Strip border before Israel stopped transferring these funds since the 11-day war last May.

Tel Aviv stipulated that the funds should be transferred through the Palestinian Authority or the United Nations and not through bags as was the case.

This week, the Palestinian factions gradually escalated by starting marches on the borders, noting that they will resume the launching of incendiary balloons and the activation of night confusion units.

The situation became more complicated when the factions fired rockets from the Gaza Strip after Israel killed four Palestinians in Jenin.

Hamas asserted, via Egypt, that it did not launch the rocket, but the Israeli Prime Minister Bennett insisted that Hamas would be responsible in the end.

“We will act at the time, place, and in conditions that suit us, and not anyone else,” Bennett said.

“As far as we’re concerned, Hamas is to blame, not rebels or anyone else but Hamas,” he asserted

“Our mission is to bring long-term security to the residents of the South and the Gaza envelope,” the prime minister stated.



No Alternative to UNRWA in Gaza besides Israel, Agency Chief Says

Palestinian employees of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a protest against job cuts (Reuters)
Palestinian employees of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a protest against job cuts (Reuters)
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No Alternative to UNRWA in Gaza besides Israel, Agency Chief Says

Palestinian employees of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a protest against job cuts (Reuters)
Palestinian employees of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a protest against job cuts (Reuters)

The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency's work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, its chief told reporters on Monday, repeating calls for countries to resist an Israeli ban on the organisation.

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, is in Geneva for a strategy meeting with donors after it was banned by Israel from operating there last month in what he said is one of the darkest moments in the agency's history, Reuters reported.

"I have drawn the attention of the member states that now the clock is ticking ... We have to stop or prevent the implementation of this bill," he told reporters, saying there is no alternative to the agency's services in Gaza besides allowing Israel to take them over.