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Qatar to Provide Funds for Restoring Over 45,000 Destroyed Houses in Gaza, Foreign Ministry Says

DOHA (Sputnik) - There are plans to restore over 45,000 destroyed houses in the Gaza Strip with the funds provided by Qatar within just six months, the Qatari Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Assistant Minister Lolwah Al-Khater said.
Sputnik

"The mechanism for providing assistance to the Gaza Strip was coordinated with the United Nations, and Israel has not opposed it in the past years ... As for the most recent decision, the Qatari committee for Gaza Strip reconstruction, in coordination with our Palestinian brothers and specific international partners that include the UN, guarantees that the funds will be used to cover the needs of Palestinians. It will mostly be used for restoring the destroyed residential buildings. Within five to six months, 45,000 residential buildings in the Gaza Strip are planned to be restored," Al-Khater said.

Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani ordered the allocation of $500 million for restoring infrastructure in the Gaza Strip after the recent hostilities.

Israel and Palestine's Gaza Strip were locked in a bitter conflict for 11 days that ended with an Egypt-brokered ceasefire on 20 May. The hostilities came after days of clashes between the Arab population and the Israeli police in East Jerusalem over an Israeli court's decision to evict several Palestinian families from the holy city's neighbourhood.

In Israel, 12 people were killed and over 50 were seriously wounded during the hostilities. The death toll among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, and the West Bank topped 270.

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