GAZA – Qatar on Thursday resumed financial aid to thousands of needy families in the besieged Gaza Strip, home of more than 2 million Palestinians, a senior Qatari diplomat said.

Qatari Ambassador to Palestine Mohammed al-Emadi said in a press statement that the distribution of aid money to 100,000 needy families in the Gaza Strip, 100 U.S. dollars for each, has started on Thursday.

He added that the needy Palestinian families are to receive the cash monthly distributed by the United Nations through Gaza banks. Israel retains the right to supervise the list of eligible recipients.

In September, al-Emadi said that Qatar was working on finding alternatives to disbursing the funds in Gaza after it had been suspended since the last round of tension between Israel and Hamas, which ended on May 21 after it went on for 11 days.

Since 2014, Qatar has sent over 1 billion dollars in aid money to the Gaza Strip. It has also pledged 500 million dollars for reconstructing what had been destroyed during the tension in May.