Russia sent an emergency aid of 10 million U.S. dollars to the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday, Palestinian officials said.

The delivery, which was made with the knowledge of the Palestinian Finance Ministry, could serve as a model for a European proposal on setting up a fund to channel humanitarian aid to the Palestinians bypassing the Hamas-led government, they added.

The quartet, consisting of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union (EU) and Russia, is expected to discuss the proposal on Tuesday.

Abbas immediately distributed the money to humanitarian programs agreed upon with Russia.

In Cairo, a senior EU official said on Saturday that the Palestinian Authority could receive an aid package soon to end the crisis over unpaid salaries due to government employees.

The Hamas-led government has failed so far to pay March and April salaries for over 160,000 civil servants due to the West's cutoff of crucial aid.

After meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abacus Gherkin, European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero Waldner told reporters that "We (are) now to set up an international mechanism to send aid to the Palestinians."

A spokesman for Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said on Friday that the EU was ready to offer humanitarian aid of 43 million U.S. dollars to the Palestinians.

The money would be used for food, sanitation, water and health programs, he added.

Also on Saturday, Palestinian President Abbas discussed current financial crisis with Prime Minister Ismail Haneya in Gaza City.

"The government does not have any problem in fund-raising and getting fund from Arab and Islamic nations. The problem is related to how to get this aid and fund," Haneya said after the meeting,

"We agreed that solving the crisis is not only responsibility of the government, but also responsibility of the president as well as factions, banks and monetary authorities," he said.

Source: Xinhua