A total of 500 houses in the Gaza Strip were damaged by the latest Israeli airstrikes, Palestine’s public works minister said late Tuesday. “In Israeli airstrikes against Gaza, 30 houses were completely destroyed and 500 houses were damaged,” Mufeed al-Hasayneh said in a statement. He added that they are working …

Ceremony at Rafah crossing to hand over control to the Palestinian government. (WAFA photo) RAFAH, November 1, 2017 (WAFA) – For the first time since July 2007, the Palestinian government resumed control on Wednesday of the Rafah crossing with Egypt in the south of the Gaza Strip marking a new …

Despite numerous failures in the past, many Palestinians and officials involved in the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation seem optimistic about this attempt. They now are evaluating the potential economic effects of the national consensus agreement signed Oct. 12 that reunites Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which administers the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority (PA) met …

Ramallah– Kifah Zboun Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah presented on Wednesday highlights of his government’s economic reform plan in the Gaza Strip. “We have plans ready for action,” said Hamdallah, who remained in Gaza with a group of ministers following a Cabinet session on Tuesday. “We hope we can invest …

GAZA, October 3, 2017 (WAFA) – The Palestinian National Consensus Government held its first meeting in three years in Gaza on Tuesday, a day after arriving in the besieged Gaza Strip following success of reconciliation efforts. Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah told the cabinet at the start of its meeting that …

RAMALLAH, October 2, 2017 (WAFA) – The arrival of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and an Egyptian delegation as part of fresh attempt to restore Palestinian national unity dominated the front page headlines in Palestinian Arabic dailies on Monday. The dailies reported the national consensus government headed by Hamdallah was due …

GAZA CITY – Egyptian delegates arrived in Gaza Sunday on the eve of a fresh attempt at reconciliation between the strip’s Hamas rulers and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement, an official said. West Bank-based Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah is to make his first visit to Gaza since 2015 …

  by Mohammed Abu Fayyad GAZA, September 30, 2017 (WAFA) – Palestinian officials and economic experts believe that success of reconciliation and the restoration of national unity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip will reflect positively on Gaza’s economy and will accelerate reconstruction following three devastating wars launched by …

The UN has allocated $2.5 million from a pooled humanitarian fund to cover urgent needs for Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip. “The serious decline in living conditions in Gaza continues,” said Robert Piper, UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities for the occupied Palestinian Territory. The distributions from the Humanitarian …

Agreement fails to address the fundamental concept of water as a shared resource, critics say. It was hailed as a breakthrough, a rare display of regional cooperation, and a positive step that may pave the way for resuscitating talks between Palestinians and Israelis, which have been on hold since 2014. …