Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani crossed into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in the first visit by a head of state since the year of 2007.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani crossed into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in the first visit by a head of state since the year of 2007.
Live images broadcast on Al-Jazeera satellite television showed the Qatari leader embracing Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh after crossing into the Palestinian enclave from the Egyptian Sinai.
After standing to attention while the Palestinian and Qatari national anthems were played, the emir walked down a red carpet shaking hands with top Hamas officials.
Gaza's Hamas premier announced that Doha is increasing its investment in rebuilding Gaza to $400 million, up from $254 million.
“The emir agreed to increase Qatari investment from $254 million to $400 million," Haniyeh said during a press conference in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza to mark the emir's visit.
Haniyeh hailed the top-level visit as a "victory" over the political and economic siege on his government.
"You are officially declaring the end of the political and economic blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip by the forces of injustice and tyranny," he told the emir. "Today we demolish the wall of the blockade through this visit, thank you Qatar," he said.
Earlier the emir, who is travelling with his wife Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, landed at El-Arish airport in the Egyptian Sinai and was flown by helicopter to the Rafah crossing where he entered Gaza at the head of a delegation which also includes Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani.
They were greeted by Haniya and his cabinet, as well as by Salah al-Aruri, a senior member of the movement's leadership.
The visit comes a day after two persons were martyred and four critically hurt in several Israeli air strikes, and another died later in the day.
The aim of the emir's visit was to inaugurate a $254-million Qatari investment project to rebuild the impoverished and overcrowded Gaza Strip, which sustained major damage during a huge 22-day Zionist military offensive which began late December 2008.
