Qatar on Thursday transferred another $15 million in aid funds to the Gaza Strip. This was the second of six planned payments, aimed to help the cash-strapped organization to pay its civilian employees' salaries.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah government has slashed Gaza budgets as part of his efforts to wrest control of the enclave back from the Islamist terrorist group.
According to Qatar's understandings with Egypt and Israel, Doha will transfer Gaza a total of $90 million in aid funds.
Israeli officials stressed that the funds were earmarked solely for civilian functionaries' wages.
The first cash infusion was made in November. At the time, Qatar's official news agency said the funds would benefit over 60,000 public servants hired by Hamas since 2007.
Qatar has sent observers to Gaza to supervise the funds' distribution. The latter is done through 12 post offices across Gaza and those applying for payment must present identity papers and be fingerprinted to receive the money.
An Israeli official told Israel Hayom Thursday that having Qatar monitor the funds' distribution "greatly improved supervision and the effort to make sure this money doesn't end up in terrorists' hands. We didn't see this kind of supervision when Abbas was handling the money."
Earlier this week, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer thanked Qatar for its help in stabilizing the humanitarian situation in Gaza. He also thanked U.N. Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov for his help on the matter.
