Qatari envoy says Israel and Gaza not interested in confrontation

Emadi also announced the details of a $9 million Qatari donation to aid hospitals and people in need in Gaza.

By ADAM RASGON
Updated: FEBRUARY 20, 2018 02:34
PALESTINIANS TAKE part in a rally in support of Qatar, inside Qatari-funded construction project ‘Hamad City’, in the southern Gaza Strip, in June (photo credit: REUTERS)
PALESTINIANS TAKE part in a rally in support of Qatar, inside Qatari-funded construction project ‘Hamad City’, in the southern Gaza Strip, in June
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A Qatari envoy said that both Israel and armed groups in the Gaza Strip do not want to engage in a new confrontation, following a recent escalation in tensions in and around the coastal enclave.
On Saturday, four soldiers were wounded when a bomb was detonated along the Gaza border, where they were investigating a suspicious object. Following the explosion, the IDF struck a number of Hamas targets in Gaza, including military compounds and observations posts.
Later Saturday night and Sunday morning, Israeli jets hit 12 additional Hamas targets in the Strip after a rocket from there was fired toward Israel.
“We confirm through our relationship with the two sides that they are not interested in an escalation or entering a confrontation that will ignite the entire region,” Muhammad al-Emadi, the Qatari envoy responsible for overseeing the distribution of his country’s aid throughout the Gaza Strip, said at a press conference in Gaza City on Monday.
Israel and armed groups in Gaza have fought three wars in the past ten years. The last war in 2014 lasted some seven weeks.
Emadi also announced the details of a $9 million Qatari donation to aid hospitals and people in need in Gaza.
He said the donation includes $2m. for medications and medical supplies; $2.6m. for food parcels, blankets, bed linens and cooking gas; $500,000 to fuel backup generators in hospitals; $1m. to renovate homes; $1m. to pay university student fees; and $1.9m. to fund various humanitarian projects.
In the past several years, Qatar, which has close ties to Hamas, has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit aid projects in Gaza.