Gaza – Arab countries announced, yesterday, Monday, the efforts they have made for humanitarian work in the world, especially relief for the Gaza Strip, which has been facing an Israeli war for about 11 months, and Sudan, which has been witnessing a war between the army and the “Rapid Support” for more than a year.
This came with official statements from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt and the Arab League, on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day, which was approved by the United Nations in 2008, five years after the killing of 22 workers in the UN mission, including the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, in Baghdad on August 19, 2003.
Arab aid
Saudi Arabia revealed that “since 1975, it has provided development aid worth nearly $131 billion, covering 171 countries, and implemented more than 7,090 humanitarian, relief and development projects,” according to what was reported by the official Saudi Press Agency, “SPA.”
Saudi Arabia also took the initiative to “establish the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action on May 13, 2015. Since its establishment, the center has implemented 3,009 projects in various vital sectors, “covering 100 countries around the world, at a value exceeding 6 billion and 940 million dollars,” according to the same source.
To Gaza, the King Salman Relief Center sent an “air bridge consisting of 54 aircraft and a sea bridge consisting of 8 large ships, including food, shelter and medical supplies weighing 6,600 tons, with the value of the aid provided so far to the Palestinian people in Gaza amounting to $185 million.”
In turn, the UAE said that it provided tens of thousands of tons of urgent aid to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip through Operation “Gallant Knight 3.”
The UAE has established “6 desalination plants, producing 1.2 million gallons of potable water per day to support more than 600,000 people, in addition to establishing 5 automatic bakeries to secure the daily needs of more than 72,000 people,” according to the official news agency, WAM.
The UAE also pledged to provide $100 million to support humanitarian efforts in Sudan and neighboring countries, during its participation in the meetings of the International Humanitarian Conference on Sudan, which was held last April in Paris.
“A plane carrying 55 tons of relief and medical aid was sent to the Ukrainians last February, and another one the following month carrying 50 tons of food supplies,” according to the same source.
The official Qatar News Agency (QNA) said, “Qatari relief and development organizations play a pivotal role in helping afflicted peoples in crisis areas, in more than 100 countries around the world (..) through projects that cover various humanitarian aspects, whether developmental, health, educational, social, or other.”
For its part, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) quoted the head of the International Organization for Migration mission in the country, Mazen Abu Al-Hassan, as saying that “Kuwait has supported the organization’s humanitarian operations over the past three years with an amount exceeding 14 million US dollars.”
The International Islamic Charitable Organization in Kuwait also confirmed, in a statement, that it “allocated about $10 million to support the humanitarian situation in the Strip.”
On the same occasion, Egypt expressed, according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, “its keenness since the beginning of the (Israeli) war on Gaza to provide urgent humanitarian needs of medicines, medical supplies and food supplies. Egypt also did not forget its brothers in Sudan, as it received more than 500,000 Sudanese since the outbreak of the crisis in April 2023, and provided them with all means of support and care; in addition to 5 million other Sudanese already residing in Egypt.”
Warnings of epidemic outbreaks
In this context, the Arab League called, in a statement, for “providing urgent relief to address the difficult humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip and Sudan, and the disaster caused by torrents and floods in the governorates of Hodeidah and Hajjah in Yemen (west).”
Since the beginning of this month, the amount of heavy rains in Yemen has increased, leading to the death of dozens and harming many residents, especially those living in displacement camps.
The Arab League stated that the risk of a polio outbreak in the Gaza Strip could threaten the lives of thousands of children in the Strip, stressing the “need to support the Ministry of Health in the State of Palestine with urgent serums and vaccinations to combat the spread of this epidemic,” after the first case appeared on Friday in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She pointed out that there are about 25.6 million people in Sudan facing acute hunger, more than half the population, including more than 755,000 people on the brink of famine.
This year, World Humanitarian Day coincides with a humanitarian disaster in Sudan due to the war that has been ongoing for more than a year, and floods that have killed dozens and worsened the conditions of the displaced.
It also coincides with the continuation of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, which has led to the killing and wounding of about 133 thousand Palestinians, and the spread of famine in several areas, especially the north, due to the depletion of medical and food supplies due to the siege imposed on the Strip for 18 years.
Anatolia
#Humanitarian #Action #Day. #Arab #efforts #provide #relief #Gaza #Sudan
2024-08-21 18:03:04
