BICOM

Qatari envoy Mohammed Al-Emadi arrived in the Gaza Strip today to deliver $30m in aid as part of the cease-fire agreement with Hamas that ended last week’s hostilities.

Al-Emadi will meet with UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh to coordinate the money transfer. The funds are supposed to go to families in need and for projects that will create jobs, as well as to pay the salaries of non-military Hamas officials.

Mladenov is planning to travel to Gaza on Monday to visit UN-supervised, Qatari-funded cash-for-work programmes and a solar energy-related project at a hospital, a UN source said on Sunday.

Israel has reopened its border crossings with the Gaza Strip, as reportedly agreed with Hamas after last week’s violence in which 25 Palestinians and four Israelis were killed. Qatar pledged last week to give $480m to the Palestinians, including $180m in urgent humanitarian aid to Gaza and an additional $300m to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Major General Kamil Abu Rokon, the head of COGAT, the Israeli organisation that oversees the crossings, said on Twitter that the step was aimed at preventing a deterioration of living conditions in Gaza, according to a policy “that distinguishes between terrorism and uninvolved civilians”.

Hamas officials said on Sunday that Israel had agreed to ease its blockade in exchange for calm. Israel did not confirm the deal, but on Friday lifted a ban on Palestinian fishing boats operating off the Gaza coast and extended the fishing zone to 12 nautical miles.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that of the $480m Qatari aid, $50m is a grant and $250m is a loan to be paid out in monthly instalments of $21m. The remaining $180m will be transferred to Gaza and overseen by the Qatari Development Fund. The PA said the decision to appeal to Qatar for financial support signalled a new direction by President Mahmoud Abbas.