GAZA CITY: Qatar is to channel goods and materials to rebuild the Hamas-run Gaza Strip via neighbouring Egypt, Qatari and Palestinian officials said yesterday.
Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Mursi discussed the project in a telephone call with Gaza’s Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah, a spokesman for the Hamas government said.
“The blockage of construction materials and equipment for reconstruction projects in Gaza has been completely lifted. That’s what we were informed by the Egyptian president,” Qatar’s ambassador Mohammed
Al Emadi said, saying the material would enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. On September 25, the ambassador said Doha was to invest $254m in Gaza in a project which would involve building roads, housing and infrastructure, as well as agricultural development.
Of that figure, $140m would be invested in building roads, and $62m would be spent on building housing in northern Gaza, he said in an interview yesterday.
According to Hamas government spokesman Taher Al Nunu, Haniyah “received a phonecall from President Mohammed Mursi during which they discussed many issues, including the Qatari reconstruction project,” saying all the necessary materials for the project would reach Gaza “soon.” Despite their ideological closeness, ties between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Mursi’s Islamist administration have recently been strained. AFP
