CAIRO: The Saudi aid agency KSrelief on Thursday finalized four joint cooperation agreements with international organizations to provide relief worth SR150 million ($40 million) for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, adviser at the Royal Court and KSrelief supervisor-general, concluded the agreements with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the World Health Organization, International Committee of the Red Cross, and the World Food Programme.
Al-Rabeeah said that the agreements “will mitigate the suffering of the Palestinian people and reduce the effects of the humanitarian catastrophe that hit them.”
He urged the international community and global organizations to put pressure on Israel to allow unconditional access of the aid.
WHO Regional Director Ahmed Al-Mandhari said that the situation in Gaza presents “a real test for humanity, politicians, and humanitarian organizations to mitigate the suffering of the Palestinian people.”
He added: “Our biggest obstacle is financial. KSrelief provided us today with the real aid that will help support our business.”
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini described the situation in the enclave as tragic.
“I have just arrived from Gaza, and I have visited training centers affiliated with us. There is no fuel, water or clothes. I am certain that KSrelief will provide them with the necessary support. I hope the truce is real and that it will be implemented in order to help the people.”
Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah signed a memorandum of joint cooperation with the Egyptian Red Crescent Society in Cairo on Thursday. (AN Photo/Mohammed Al-Sulami)
Alfonso Verdu Perez, head of the ICRC in Egypt, said: “Right now, Gaza is our priority. Thank you for supporting us in carrying out our work.”
He added: “The director of our center is British, and he told me that he had never witnessed anything like what is happening right now in Gaza. Lives are being lost and 70 percent of the facilities are destroyed.
“We have the same principle as KSrelief, and we wouldn’t be able to carry out our work without its support, and for that, we are grateful,” he said.
Al-Rabeeah concluded a memorandum of joint cooperation with the Egyptian Red Crescent Society to provide logistical support and deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The agreement was countersigned in Cairo by Al-Rabeeah and Nevine El-Kabbaj, Egypt’s minister of social solidarity and chairman of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society.
The memorandum aims to coordinate humanitarian and relief work, facilitate the delivery of Saudi aid by air and sea, provide equipped warehouses to store relief aid, and schedule the entry of aid to the Gaza Strip.
