Qatar denied on Monday that Israel was preventing it from delivering another cash grant to the Gaza Strip and said the funds would be delivered this week or next week.
Qatar is pursuing its effort to deliver a new cash payment to the Gaza Strip, said Qatari envoy Mohammed Al-Emadi, chairman of the Gaza Reconstruction Committee.
The delay in the arrival of the Qatari funds to the Gaza Strip was due to the measures taken to combat the coronavirus pandemic, Emadi said. He denied that Qatar was deliberately delaying the delivery of the funds or that Israel had prevented his country from doing so.
Emadi also denied reports that the amount slated for delivery to the Gaza Strip was $50 million and stressed Qatar’s ongoing efforts to support the Palestinian people in general and the residents of the Gaza Strip in particular.
The Israeli government has informed Qatar of its agreement to the delivery of the funds to the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar reported.
Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip decided to stop launching incendiary balloons toward Israel following contacts led by the Qatari and United Nations envoys, the report said. The decision came after the Israeli government permitted Qatar to deliver $50m. to the Gaza Strip in two installments, it added.
Al-Akhbar quoted Ahmed Al-Mudallal, head of the National Commission of the Great March of Return, as saying the resumption of balloon attacks against Israel was not taken by his group.
The attacks were the result of “efforts by youths to protest Israeli foot-dragging regarding easing restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip,” Mudallal was quoted as saying.
Last week, a group called Descendants of Nasser Salah al-Din announced it would resume firing incendiary balloons toward Israel to protest “Israeli violations against al-Aqsa Mosque and Israel’s intention to annex parts of the West Bank.”
Meanwhile, Hamas announced on Monday the launching of “activities to confront the annexation project,” a reference to Israel’s intention to extend sovereignty to parts of the West Bank.
“The launching of activities and the continued confrontation against the annexation plan is an encouraging initiative for all of our people to join a broad national front to face the occupation and the schemes of the US administration,” Salah Bardaweel, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, told reporters.
He did not say whether the planned “activities” would include the resumption of weekly demonstrations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.