KFAED offers $5.5m to Palestine as part of grant worth $250 mln

RAMALLAH, Oct 17, ( KUNA): The Palestinian Health Ministry on Thursday announced that it received a sum of $5.5 million from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) as part of a previously pledged Kuwaiti grant worth $250 million.

Health Minister Mai Al-Kaila said in a press statement that the ministry also obtained a grant estimated at $5.5 million from Al-Aqsa Fund.

She noted that the two grants support the ministry’s efforts to combat the novel coronavirus and provide good medical services in the Gaza Strip and West Banks governorates.

She, on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and the ministry’s staff, expressed gratitude to the KFAED and Al-Aqsa Fund as well as the Islamic Development Bank for big continued efforts in providing support and grants to the Palestinian health sector.

Meanwhile, Shtayyeh’s advisor for Islamic and Arab funds Nasser Qatami, said that the Kuwaiti funding offered on Thursday is part of the $250 million grant pledged by Kuwait to reconstruct the Strip.

“We are very grateful to our brothers in Kuwait for their support to the Palestinian people and continued assistance to back our issue on financial and political levels, he told KUNA.

Kuwait on Thursday said it would provide a sum of $1.5 million in immediate aid to the United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees, in a bid to ensure the cash-strapped body’s services remain uninterrupted.