Donors pledge over $2b for Gaza at Kuwait conference
A conference of international donors in Kuwait pledged over $2 billion in aid to Gaza on Sunday as UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres called for an “immediate” ceasefire in the Israel-hamas war.
The conference, organised by the International Islamic Charitable Organisation (IICO) and UN humanitarian coordination agency OCHA, said the funds would be dispersed over two years, with the possibility of an extension.
The initiative is designed “to mobilise efforts to support life-saving humanitarian interventions in the Gaza Strip, and to support the prospects for early recovery for the population,” IICO general manager Bader Saud Al Sumait said.
It would be applied on five different tracks — “life-saving interventions, shelter, health, education, and economic empowerment,” Sumait said as he read the conference’s final statement.
Guterres urged an immediate halt to the war, the return of hostages held in Gaza and a “surge” in humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
“I repeat my call, the world’s call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid,” Guterres said in a video address. “But a ceasefire will only be the start. It will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Council of Elders, under the chairmanship of Dr Ahmed Al Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, commended the UAE’S honourable position in support of the Palestinian cause and the country’s rejection of the statements made by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he had suggested that the UAE could participate in the civil administration of the Gaza Strip, under Israeli occupation.
In a statement on Sunday, the Council emphasised its full support for the UAE’S courageous stance purporting the Israeli Prime Minister lacks legitimate authority to implement this step, or take any similar measures.
Thestatementalsocommendeduae’srejection of being involved in any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli strikes on Gaza continued on Sunday after it expanded an evacuation order for Rafah despite an international outcry over its military incursion into eastern areas of the city, effectively shutting a key aid crossing.
“The war in Gaza is causing horrific human suffering, devastating lives, tearing families apart and rendering huge numbers of people homeless, hungry and traumatised,” Guterres said.
Meeting Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmed Al Sabah, the UN chief accepted an honorary shield “on behalf of the United Nations, and especially on behalf of the almost 200 members of the UN that were killed in Gaza.”
Israel sent tanks into eastern Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip early on Sunday after a night of heavy aerial and ground bombardments, killing 19 people and wounding dozens of others, Palestinian health officials said.
The death toll in Israel’s military operation in Gaza has now passed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The bombardment has laid waste to the coastal enclave and caused a deep humanitarian crisis.
On Sunday, more families, estimated in the thousands, were leaving Rafah as the Israeli military pressure intensified. Tank shells landed across the city as the army gave new evacuation orders covering some neighbourhoods in the centre of the city, which borders Egypt.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said Cairo would continue its mediation between Israel and Hamas and urged the two sides to show the flexibility and the will needed to reach a deal.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said that two doctors were killed in an Israeli air strike on the city of Deir Al Balah in a central area of the Palestinian territory.
Remarks by US President Joe Biden that a ceasefire in Gaza would be possible if Hamas released its hostages are a “setback” to negotiations, the Palestinian group said on Sunday.
“We condemn this position by the US president, we consider it a setback from the outcomes of the latest round of negotiations, which led to the movement’s agreement to the proposal put forward by mediators,” Hamas said in a statement. It added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “rushed to overturn” the talks by launching an offensive in Rafah.
UN chief again calls for ‘immediate’ truce; Muslim Council of Elders commends UAE’S stance; death toll in Gaza tops 35,000; Biden’s remarks on hostages ‘setback’ for negotiations.