Impoverished Gazans to soon receive latest Qatari grants, says official

Impoverished families in Palestine's besieged Gaza Strip will begin receiving the latest round of Qatari monetary grants on Sunday.

Qatar's Gaza Reconstruction Committee (GRC) chief Mohammed Al-Emadi, Doha's ambassador to the enclave, revealed the GRC will work with the Qatar Fund for Development on giving out December's aid.

Around 95,000 families will be given $100 each, Al-Emadi explained.

The funds will be given out by the United Nations and more than 300 UN-selected shops and commercial centres, the GRC said on Thursday.

Gaza has been under a crushing Israeli siege since 2007, when Hamas seized the Strip from rival Palestinian faction Fatah, still the predominant party in the West Bank.

The Israeli blockade has devastated Gaza's economy. Tel Aviv's deadly 11-day bombing campaign against the Strip in May devastated buildings and infrastructure. It killed about 266 people, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Egypt also maintains a blockade of Gaza, though it occasionally opens the Rafah border between its territory and the Strip.