Hamas says Qatar agrees to offer 12 mln USD to support Gazans

Qatar agreed on Friday to offer 12 million U.S. dollars to support people in the Gaza Strip, Hamas said in a press statement.

The agreement was reached between Qatar and Hamas, ruler of Gaza, in a meeting held in the coastal enclave between Qatari Ambassador Mohammad el-Amadi and Hamas leader in Gaza Yehya Sinwar, according to the statement.

El-Amadi, who heads the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, arrived in the Gaza Strip on Thursday night and is scheduled to stay in the enclave for several days, sources in the Qatari committee said.

The two sides agreed that Qatar will provide 100 dollars in cash for each of 120,000 poor families in the Gaza Strip.

They also agreed that Qatar pays 2 million dollars to enable 500 young Gazans to get married, 1 million dollars for poor families to renovate their homes and 1 million dollars for graduates to cover their overdue tuition fees.

In 2007, Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip right after Hamas routed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces and seized control of the enclave.

Over the past year and a half, Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations have been mediating a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel that led to an improvement in the daily hard living in the Gaza Strip.