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Tribune News Network
Doha
Under the directives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar will provide $500 million in financial aid to support the reconstruction of Gaza, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced on Wednesday.
"We will continue to support our brothers in Palestine in order to reach a just and lasting solution by establishing their independent state in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and the relevant international legitimacy references," he said in a tweet.
According to United Nations estimates, around 1,000 homes in Gaza were destroyed in the latest Israeli aggression that ended last Friday after 11 days of destruction and death. Lynn Hastings, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the region, said hundreds of additional housing units were damaged so badly they are likely uninhabitable.
The fighting began May 10 after tensions were mounting in East Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and spread to Gaza as a result of Israeli assaults on worshippers in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Heavy-handed police tactics at the compound and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Israeli settlers had inflamed tensions. A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas started early Friday.
The true costs of the war will not be known for some time. Palestinian health officials said 279 Palestinians, including 69 children and 40 women, were killed in the fighting.
On Sunday morning, hundreds of municipal workers and volunteers started a one-week campaign to clear rubble from Gaza City’s streets. Outside a flattened high-rise building, workers loaded rubble into donkey carts and small pickup trucks. Next to a destroyed government building, children collected cables and whatever recyclable leftovers they could sell for a few shekels.
Hastings said that the UN would launch an appeal to repair the damage in the densely populated besieged Gaza Strip, where there is a threat of COVID-19 spreading further.
“The escalation has exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, generated by nearly 14 years of blockade and internal political divisions, alongside recurrent hostilities,” Hastings said in a statement issued from the enclave on Sunday. “We must also ensure support to continue addressing needs that already existed, including those arising from the ongoing pandemic.”
Palestinian authorities began distributing tents and mattresses in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said at least 6,000 people were left homeless in the bombing. Trucks with medicines, food and fuel arrived to Gaza on Friday through the Karem Abu Salem checkpoint after Israel reopened it. According to Palestinian officials, the cost of rebuilding the territory is tens of millions of dollars.
Doha
Under the directives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar will provide $500 million in financial aid to support the reconstruction of Gaza, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced on Wednesday.
"We will continue to support our brothers in Palestine in order to reach a just and lasting solution by establishing their independent state in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and the relevant international legitimacy references," he said in a tweet.
According to United Nations estimates, around 1,000 homes in Gaza were destroyed in the latest Israeli aggression that ended last Friday after 11 days of destruction and death. Lynn Hastings, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the region, said hundreds of additional housing units were damaged so badly they are likely uninhabitable.
The fighting began May 10 after tensions were mounting in East Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and spread to Gaza as a result of Israeli assaults on worshippers in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Heavy-handed police tactics at the compound and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Israeli settlers had inflamed tensions. A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas started early Friday.
The true costs of the war will not be known for some time. Palestinian health officials said 279 Palestinians, including 69 children and 40 women, were killed in the fighting.
On Sunday morning, hundreds of municipal workers and volunteers started a one-week campaign to clear rubble from Gaza City’s streets. Outside a flattened high-rise building, workers loaded rubble into donkey carts and small pickup trucks. Next to a destroyed government building, children collected cables and whatever recyclable leftovers they could sell for a few shekels.
Hastings said that the UN would launch an appeal to repair the damage in the densely populated besieged Gaza Strip, where there is a threat of COVID-19 spreading further.
“The escalation has exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, generated by nearly 14 years of blockade and internal political divisions, alongside recurrent hostilities,” Hastings said in a statement issued from the enclave on Sunday. “We must also ensure support to continue addressing needs that already existed, including those arising from the ongoing pandemic.”
Palestinian authorities began distributing tents and mattresses in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said at least 6,000 people were left homeless in the bombing. Trucks with medicines, food and fuel arrived to Gaza on Friday through the Karem Abu Salem checkpoint after Israel reopened it. According to Palestinian officials, the cost of rebuilding the territory is tens of millions of dollars.
