Qatar restores monetary aid to families in besieged Gaza after months-long pause

Source: MoFA

Qatar currently pays around $30 million per month to help authorities pay for fuel for electricity and to pay public sector wages.

Qatari authorities announced they will restart the process of distributing monetary support to families in need starting Sunday, in cooperation with the Qatar Fund for Development. 

In foreign ministry statement on Friday, Chairman of Qatar’s Gaza Reconstruction Committee Ambassador Mohammed Al Emadi confirmed that 100,000 families in Gaza will receive $100 each. 

This announcement comes as a relief for Gaza after a delay in payments since June, according to reports.

The monthly aid to Palestine was approved by Israel and is part of long-standing agreements between Israel and Hamas that were first inked in 2018, in which Qatar stepped in to provide monthly payments to families in need.

Al Emadi confirmed the distribution of the crucial aid to Gaza will be made through the United Nations and given to over 300 centres and commercial stores across the Strip, the MOFA statement read.

Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem in a bloody war in 1967, widely known as “the six day war” and naksa, or “setback”.

Within six days, the Zionist state captured the majority of Palestine while forcibly dispossessing  at least 300,000 Palestinians.

The years-long Israeli blockade has turned Gaza into what many Palestinians and rights groups have described as the world’s “largest open-air prison”.

However, Qatar has been a constant help to the people of Gaza, providing assistance in times of urgent need, and currently pays around $30 million per month to help authorities pay for fuel for electricity and to pay public sector wages.

In 2021, $500 million was pledged to help with reconstruction after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended the worst bout of fighting in recent years. 

As of 2023, total aid from Qatar to Gaza has reached more than $2.1 billion.