Turkey, Qatar to support Gaza Strip development

GAZA - Anatolia News Agency

Palestinian children inspect the rubble of a factory in al-Zaiton, Gaza Strip on June 4. Turkey pledges to support the Gaza Strip in health, education and infrastructure. EPA photo

Turkey and Qatar will contribute to reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Gaza Strip Labor Minister Yusuf al-Mensi has told Anatolia news agency.

Turkey has already made significant contributions to reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, by launching many projects, al-Mensi said. “Those works by Turkey can clearly be seen.”

A delegation from Gaza will attend a meeting in Turkey’s capital city, Ankara, between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ismail Haniyeh, the Gaza Strip’s Hamas premier, after the Ramadan holiday, he said.

Turkey pledged to support the authority in the Gaza Strip in education, health and infrastructure, he said.

“Qatar will give $224 million of aid to Gaza after Eid-ul-Fitr [Şeker Bayram],” he said. Qatar’s monetary aid will be used in the reconstruction of the Saladin Highway which connects all the villages and cities in Gaza, to enlarge the coastal road and in developing the houses that Israel has destroyed, he added.

Also Kuwait has made a commitment to construct a residential area in the city of Khan Yunis. Thousands of houses and government buildings were destroyed as a result of Israel’s military attack on Gaza in 2008.