BICOM

The Qatari Ambassador to Gaza, Mohammed al-Emadi last night delivered $25m to Hamas in Gaza

According to media reports, $15m will be distributed to needy families and $10m will be used to buy fuel for the power station in Gaza.

Kan Radio reports that Qatar has also offered to pay to install a new power line that would run from Israel into Gaza. Construction of the power line will take approximately three years and provide Gaza with 100 megawatts of electricity. Last month, al-Emadi said he would dispatch a team of expert technicians to hold talks “with the concerned parties to discuss the mechanisms of operation of the power line”. Qatar has pledged to send Gaza a grant of $180m.

The Qatari delegation arrived to Gaza after a week of heightened tension along the border. Last Wednesday the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) imposed a maritime blockade on Gaza after incendiary balloons launched from the strip started five fires on the Israeli side of the border. On Friday, thousand of Palestinians protested on the border. Rioters threw explosive devices and rocks at IDF soldiers and also tried to break through the border fence. IDF soldiers responded with tear gas and live fire, injuring 46 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

UN special envoy Nickolay Mladenov, met on Friday with Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, who reportedly told him: “We will not agree to the current situation. Israel has to grant fishermen access to the sea immediately. We’re giving the international efforts to reach the truce arrangement and lift the siege a chance. If not, we’ll force Israel to lift the siege our way.”

Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, who was absent from the meeting with Mladenov, reportedly believes that there has been no progress in the talks to reach a truce arrangement with Israel and that the sides are wasting their time.

Mladenov conveyed a message from Hamas to Israel that the group placed full responsibility for any future escalation on Jerusalem, saying that it was not fulfilling its part of the unofficial ceasefire agreement. Mladenov told Hamas that Israel is interested in maintaining quiet.

According to a report by Channel 13 News, Hamas sources are claiming that Israel is demanding renewed talks to return the bodies of two IDF soldiers killed in 2014  in exchange for quiet in Gaza. The sources claimed Hamas had refused the demand.