Under an agreement drawn up in recent weeks Qatar will finance the purchase of fuel for Gaza’s power plant.
According to Haaretz newspaper the arrangement which is supposed to go into effect in the coming days will allow a significant increase in the supply of electricity to Gaza homes.
“Israel hopes that this development which should provide an immediate improvement to residents’ daily lives will reduce the risk of a military confrontation with Hamas” the newspaper said.
Gaza now gets around four hours of electricity a day. The Qatari aid estimated to be tens of millions of dollars aims to raise the average of power supply to eight hours a day.
Haaretz reported last week that talks on this issue had been taking place over the past few months under the auspices of the UN envoy to the region Nickolay Mladenov.
Later a breakthrough was reached at the conference of countries that donate to the Palestinians which took place last week in New York alongside the UN General Assembly sessions.
Previous talks had raised the possibility of increasing the electricity supply from Israel by upgrading the power line from Israel to Gaza but this proposal met with obstacles because the Palestinian Authority objected.
PA president Mahmoud Abbas refuses moves to improve the electricity supply in Gaza unless Hamas responds to the conditions he set for the national reconciliation.
