Israel and Hamas have reached a basic ceasefire agreement through Egyptian mediators, Arab and Palestinian news outlets reported on Sunday. According to the agreement, Qatari aid money will be transferred to the Gaza Strip as early as this Wednesday, June 30.
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Meanwhile, shipments of Qatari-funded fuel into Gaza will resume for the first time since last month's 11-day war between Israel and Hamas, UN envoy to the Mideast Tor Wennesland said in a statement.
The fuel will be delivered to Gaza's sole power plant starting Monday, Wennesland added.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories unit in the Defense Ministry, which oversees civilian affairs in the West Bank, confirmed the deliveries, through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, without saying who was paying for the fuel. The IDF said permission for the deliveries was "conditional on the continued maintenance of security stability."
The delivery of Qatari aid is controversial in Israel, where critics say it rewards terror. When he was education minister, current Prime Minister Naftali Bennett compared it to "protection money" in a 2018 interview with the Hebrew press.
Qatar has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to pay for electricity, help Hamas cover the salaries of its civil servants and provide monthly stipends to poor families. Qatar has also funded the construction of new roads and hospitals in Gaza.
Israel and Egypt imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza in 2007 after Hamas seized power from the rival Palestinian Authority in a bloody coup. Israel says the restrictions are needed to keep Hamas from importing military resources.
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