Published May 27, 2021, 6:36 AM
Qatar announced Wednesday it would provide $500 million for Gaza’s reconstruction, after the Palestinian enclave was battered by Israeli air strikes in 11 days of hostilities between the Jewish state and armed Palestinian groups.
A Palestinian child rides his bicycle in front of the ruins of a building destroyed during recent Israeli bombing in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 26, 2021.
SAID KHATIB / AFP “The state of Qatar announces $500 million in support for the reconstruction of Gaza,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani tweeted. Qatar is a key backer of the Islamist group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip.
Egypt’s president met Tuesday with Qatar’s chief diplomat in Cairo as ties between the two nations gradually improve after Egypt and three Gulf nations ended their blockade of the energy-rich country earlier this year.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani agreed on “intensifying joint consultation and coordination” to boost bilateral ties between the two nations, el-Sisi’s office said in a statement.
El-Sisi also received an invitation from Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to visit Doha. It would be the first for the Egyptian leader to the Gulf state since he led the military’s overthrow of an elected president in 2013 amid mass protests against his divisive one-year rule. El-Sisi was defence minister at the time.
Cairo: Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials amid growing signs of improving ties between the two countries after strains of more than three years.
The Qatari official, who is leading a high-level delegation, will meet his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukry for talks on cooperation links between Egypt and Qatar, the Egyptian semi-official newspaper Akhbar Al Youm reported. They will also discuss the latest developments in the region including the Palestinian problem amid efforts to shore up a ceasefire between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers.
The two-day visit is part of an Arab region that already took the Qatari minister to Egypt’s neighbours Libya and Sudan to discuss the regional scene.
Qatar offers backing to Libya unity govt Published: 9:16 PM, May 24, 2021
Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh meets with Qatar s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Tripoli, Libya May 23, 2021. SHARE
Qatar gave its support to Libya s internationally-backed political process, which aims to lift the North African nation out of a decade of conflict and foreign interference. We support the UN-sponsored political process in the hope that it preserves the territorial integrity of Libya and prevents foreign interference in its affairs, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on a visit to the Libyan capital.