GAZA CITY: Hamas said Thursday it had allocated new homes funded by Iran in Gaza to former Palestinian prisoners who had been held in Israeli jails. The prisoners ministry said 26 apartments in a new building in southern Gaza had been given out in a lottery between 125 former Palestinian prisoners. Officials from Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip, said the programme was the first of its kind funded by Iran. A second building will be constructed in northern Gaza, the ministry said, adding the project aimed to "reduce the suffering of our freed prisoners." Iran has long been a strong backer of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad, providing them with funds, weapons and training.