Qatar Pledges $480 Million in Support of Palestinians

Date: 07 May 2019 - 21:28

News ID: ۶۵۶۷۹

CAIRO (Dispatches) – Qatar has pledged 480 million dollars in support of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement says.
Qatar allocated 300 million dollars in grants and loans to support the Palestinian Authority’s budget for the health and education sectors. The other 180 million dollars will go to urgent rescue and humanitarian support, as well as supporting the United Nations’ programs in Palestine, and to support the electricity services to ensure various sectors of the Palestinian people have access to them.
Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas expressed his gratitude to Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for the financial assistance, saying, "The aid will contribute to alleviating the hardships facing Palestinians.”
"The aid, which will be both loans and grants, will help Palestinian people overcome some of their hardships, face the challenges and strengthen their steadfastness on their land until the establishment of their independent Palestinian state with al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital on the 1967 borders,” Abbas stated.
Ismail Haniyeh, head of the politburo for Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement, also praised the Qatari decision, saying the aid was "a continuation of the unwavering Qatari stances that support the Palestinian people.”
"We thank Qatar for the honorable grant, which seeks to help the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Qatar continues, even under the most difficult conditions, to support Palestine,” Haniyeh said.
Qatar has committed to providing $15 million a month into the Gaza Strip under an informal agreement struck last November. The funds are meant to pay salaries of Hamas employees and support impoverished Gazans.
On March 11, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip received a new tranche of financial aid donated by Qatar, nearly two months after Hamas said it would not accept Qatari funds following Israel’s blockade of the delivery over unrest along the border between the besieged costal enclave and the occupied territories.