Doha, Qatar
Doha, QatariStock

Qatar has pledged 480 million dollars in support of Palestinian Arabs in both Judea and Samaria and Gaza, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday, according to Reuters.

Qatar allocated 300 million dollars in grants and loans to support the Palestinian Authority’s budget for the health and education sectors, according to the statement.

The other 180 million dollars will go to urgent rescue and humanitarian support, as well as supporting the United Nations’ programs in “Palestine”, and to support the electricity services to ensure various sectors of the Palestinian people have access to them, it said.

Israel several months ago allowed two installments of $15 million in Qatari money to enter Gaza.

A third installment of the money, which was meant to pay the salaries of Hamas employees, was postponed by Israel following the shooting of an IDF soldier by a terrorist from Gaza.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Security Cabinet subsequently approved the transfer of the third installment, but Hamas refused to accept the money “in response to the occupation policy”.

The Qatari envoy to Gaza recently announced his country will no longer fund salaries of Hamas employees in Gaza and would instead donate the remaining $60 million in aid mostly through United Nations programs.

The assistance to the PA is significant in that previously, PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas was angered by Qatar’s assistance to Hamas, his longtime rivals, fearing that the agreement would perpetuate the Hamas regime in Gaza and would distance the PA from taking control over the Gaza Strip.