Israel has agreed to transfer $50 million of Qatari aid into the Gaza Strip and continue the social projects started by the Gulf states in exchange for Hamas’ pledge to stop incendiary balloon terror, Beirut-based Al Akhbar newspaper reported Monday.
The amount is equal to two installments of Qatar’s monthly payment to the needy population in the coastal enclave.
The agreement was apparently mediated by Qatari envoy to Gaza, Mohammed al-Emadi, and UN's Special Coordinator for the Middle East Nikolai Mladenov.
The two have pledged the aid will be delivered this week, but no exact date has been set.
The move comes after Palestinian militants in Gaza last week resumed the practice of sending balloons with flammable material or explosives attached to it, into Israel.
On Friday a cluster of balloons was launched from the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. However, security officials in Israel said none of the balloons crossed into Israeli territory.
One member of the incendiary balloon unit said the resumption of the practice is a Palestinian response to Israel’s plans to “annex parts of the West Bank and Israel’s harming of the al-Aqsa mosque.”
The militant threatened the launching of the balloons would gradually increase if Israel continues its plan to apply its sovereignty over the settlements.