GAZA: The World Health Organization called for the international community to step up and fund a scaled-up aid response in Gaza after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal to end 15 months of war in the region earlier this week.
The UN health agency said its member states, donors and the global community, including the private sector, should support both the urgent health needs and the longer-term rebuilding of Gaza’s health care system.
“The UN cannot deliver the response alone,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Part of the ceasefire deal requires 600 truckloads of humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza every day. Peeperkorn said WHO was ready to deliver, although the “significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza” need to be removed.
“Now is the time for member states, donors and the global community to step up and provide flexible funding to enable this swift and effective response for urgent and longer term needs,” he said.
![]()
WHO calls for international support to fund aid in Gaza after ceasefire deal
Short Url
https://arab.news/nkhwc
WHO calls for international support to fund aid in Gaza after ceasefire deal
- “The UN cannot deliver the response alone,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory
- Part of the ceasefire deal requires 600 truckloads of humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza
Thousands stage pro-Gaza rally in Istanbul
- Thousands joined a New Year’s Day rally for Gaza in Istanbul Thursday, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and calling for an end to the violence in the tiny war-torn territory
ISTANBUL: Thousands joined a New Year’s Day rally for Gaza in Istanbul Thursday, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and calling for an end to the violence in the tiny war-torn territory.
Demonstrators gathered in freezing temperatures under cloudless blue skies to march to the city’s Galata Bridge for a rally under the slogan: “We won’t remain silent, we won’t forget Palestine,” an AFP reporter at the scene said.
More than 400 civil society organizations were present at the rally, one of whose organizers was Bilal Erdogan, the youngest son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Police sources and Anadolou state news agency said some 500,000 people had joined the march at which there were speeches and a performance by Lebanese-born singer Maher Zain of his song “Free Palestine.”
“We are praying that 2026 will bring goodness for our entire nation and for the oppressed Palestinians,” said Erdogan, who chairs the board of the Ilim Yayma Foundation, an educational charity that was one of the organizers of the march.
Turkiye has been one of the most vocal critics of the war in Gaza and helped broker a recent ceasefire that halted the deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023.
But the fragile October 10 ceasefire has not stopped the violence with more than more than 400 Palestinians killed since it took hold.
Demonstrators gathered in freezing temperatures under cloudless blue skies to march to the city’s Galata Bridge for a rally under the slogan: “We won’t remain silent, we won’t forget Palestine,” an AFP reporter at the scene said.
More than 400 civil society organizations were present at the rally, one of whose organizers was Bilal Erdogan, the youngest son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Police sources and Anadolou state news agency said some 500,000 people had joined the march at which there were speeches and a performance by Lebanese-born singer Maher Zain of his song “Free Palestine.”
“We are praying that 2026 will bring goodness for our entire nation and for the oppressed Palestinians,” said Erdogan, who chairs the board of the Ilim Yayma Foundation, an educational charity that was one of the organizers of the march.
Turkiye has been one of the most vocal critics of the war in Gaza and helped broker a recent ceasefire that halted the deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023.
But the fragile October 10 ceasefire has not stopped the violence with more than more than 400 Palestinians killed since it took hold.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.