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 Islamist Hamas movement took over in 2007. Live images broadcast on Al-Jazeera satellite television showed the Qatari leader embracing Gaza’s Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya after crossing into the Palestinian enclave from the Egyptian Sinai. After Palestinian and Qatari national anthems were played, the emir walked down a red carpet shaking hands with top Hamas officials. 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. 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 Islamist movement’s exiled leadership. The visit marks the
second to the tiny coastal territory by Sheikh Hamad.