GAZA CITY: Qatar announced on Tuesday it will fund a new headquarters for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza as it seeks to support a recently agreed reconciliation deal between rivals Hamas and Fatah.

“Qatar has agreed to build the headquarters of the presidency and the headquarters of the Palestinian government in Gaza after the consensus government assumes its duties fully,” Qatar’s envoy to Gaza Mohammed al-Amadi announced.

The Palestinian Authority government is to retake control of the Gaza Strip from Hamas by Dec 1 under a reconciliation deal signed in Cairo this month.

Amadi said Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had asked the Gulf state a week ago for the funding and Qatar agreed as it wants to support reconciliation efforts.

The headquarters of the Palestinian Authority presidency and government in the Gaza Strip were targeted several times by Israeli bombing in 2008-09 and 2012 wars, leaving them destroyed.

Qatar has long been a supporter of Hamas and has paid for much of the reconstruction of the strip after the last war with Israel in 2014.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2017