Prime minister al-Thani phones Haniyeh to say money has already been transferred.
By ARIEL BEN SOLOMONPower plant (illustrative).(photo credit: REUTERS)
Qatar pledged to pay for fuel to run the Gaza Strip’s only power plant, the office of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh announced on Tuesday.Qatar’s Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani made the pledge during a phone call with Haniyeh, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported.The Qatari prime minister assured the Hamas leader that the money for fueling the power plant for three months had been transferred to the Palestinian Authority, Haniyeh’s office said.Earlier, Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani spoke by phone with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about speeding up the reconstruction of Gaza, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported.The two also discussed the Qatari funding of the power plant.Qatar is a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian branch, Hamas, and other Sunni Islamist groups in the region.Last week, some 24,000 civil servants hired by Hamas, many of whom have not received a full salary in almost a year, finally got some pay from the new Palestinian unity government based in the West Bank.These funds were also supplied by the gas-rich kingdom of Qatar.Last month, the Gulf state pledged $1 billion in reconstruction assistance for Gaza.Reuters contributed to this report.
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