Qatari envoy’s visit, curfew may ease Gaza tensions
The Qatari envoy’s visit also comes 24 hours after four Palestinian Islamic Jihad members accidentally blew themselves up while trying to launch rockets into Israel.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHQatari envoy Mohammed Al-Emadi gestures during an interview with Reuters in Gaza City, August 24, 2019(photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM)
Amid reports of progress in negotiations to end tensions between Israel and Hamas, Qatari envoy Mohammed al-Emadi was expected to arrive in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night for talks with leaders of Palestinian factions on ways of preventing a further deterioration of the situation.Emadi, chairman of the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, was scheduled to enter the Gaza Strip through Israel's Erez crossing.His visit comes as Hamas announced a 48-hour curfew in the Gaza Strip on Monday night after the discovery of four patients with coronavirus outside quarantine facilities in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave. The four cases were discovered in al-Maghazi refugee camp.On Tuesday, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry said a fifth case of coronavirus has been detected among the general population of the Gaza Strip.The Qatari envoy’s visit also comes 24 hours after four Palestinian Islamic Jihad members accidentally blew themselves up while trying to launch rockets into Israel.Despite the curfew, hundreds of Palestinians on Tuesday attended the funeral of the four PIJ operatives.Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip predicted that the lockdown and the arrival of the Qatari envoy would ease tensions between Hamas and Israel after the latest spate of explosives-laden and incendiary balloon attacks against Israel.Hamas security forces and militiamen have been patrolling the streets of the Gaza Strip since Monday night in a bid to enforce the curfew, the sources said.“They are preventing people from leaving their homes,” they said. “This means that those who are launching the balloons toward Israel cannot continue to operate.”Hamas officials on Tuesday said they were hoping Emadi will bring with him a promise to continue Qatari financial aid to tens of thousands of Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip. They confirmed that Hamas has asked Qatar to increase the cash grants to the Gaza Strip from $20 million to $40m.
“We are optimistic,” one Hamas official said. “There are indications that Qatar intends to continue the payments for at least another six months. This will help calm the situation.”Hamas was waiting for a response from Egypt regarding its demand that Israel ease restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip, the official said.Last week, Hamas relayed its demand to Egyptian intelligence officials who visited the Gaza Strip. The demand includes, among other things, expanding the fishing zone, allowing the entry of thousands of Palestinian workers and merchants into Israel and solving the electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip.Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called for ending the blockade of the Gaza Strip following the discovery of new coronavirus cases there. He appealed to the international community and the World Health Organization to intervene with Israel to end the blockade and provide the Gaza Strip with medical equipment for combating the disease.Barhoum also urged the Palestinian Authority to assume its responsibilities for the Gaza Strip by assisting in efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
