Qatar agrees to pay for reconstruction of Gaza homes destroyed by Israeli bombing, Hamas says

Qatar has agreed to rebuild Palestinian homes in the besieged Gaza Strip that were destroyed by an Israeli bombing campaign earlier this month.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Friday that Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Abdul-Rahman accepted his request to restore the dozens of damaged homes.

Haniyeh said in a statement that Qatar's prime minister had confirmed that the reconstruction would take place through the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

On 5 August, Israel began a bombing campaign on the besieged enclave which resulted in the complete or partial destruction of 89 homes.

At least 49 Palestinians, including 15 children, were killed in three days of intense Israeli bombardment targeting the besieged coastal enclave, which also resulted in heavy material damage.

Israel says the deadly assault was launched in response to an imminent threat from Islamic Jihad fighters to its citizens in the area around Gaza.

The fighting was the worst in Gaza since a war last year devastated the impoverished coastal territory, home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.

The assault ended after an Egypt-brokered truce, supported by Qatar and the UN, was agreed upon.

"This agreement should not be broken in any way to ensure an appropriate amount of time where parties can work at the diplomatic level to avoid an escalation," Majed al-Ansari, spokesman of the Qatari foreign ministry, told The New Arab after the truce came into effect.

"I believe that what we are see[ing] now … is the result of active diplomacy – not just on the part of Qatar, but at the regional and international level – aimed at stopping this aggression as soon as possible."