KARACHI: Al-Khidmat Foundation (AKF), a leading Pakistani charity, has launched a Rs15 billion ($52.8 million) project to help rebuild infrastructure devastated by Israel’s two-year war on Gaza, the charity announced Sunday.
The development came days after US President Donald Trump helped reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas at a Sharm El-Sheikh summit, under which Hamas released 20 Israeli hostages and Israel freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has sent several aid consignments for Gaza, was among leaders from eight Muslim-majority nations who met Trump in New York to discuss the situation in Gaza before the peace plan was formally unveiled in Egypt.
On Sunday, the AKH, which has been worked extensively in Pakistan to provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, said it will help rebuild critical infrastructure to provide drinking water, food, winter relief, and health and education facilities to Gazans on short- and long-term bases.
“Al-Khidmat has always responded to human suffering beyond borders,” it said in a statement, urging philanthropists, donor agencies and the public at large to play their part in restoring hope and dignity for the people of Gaza.
“Our support for Gaza is not based on politics, but purely on humanitarian grounds.”
The AKH said it has already kicked off the process of food aid delivery to Gaza.
“One hundred tons of aid supplies have arrived in Cairo via air cargo from Pakistan, which will be sent inside Gaza in the next 3 days,” it added.
The statement came hours after Israeli military launched an attack on Gaza, Israeli media and residents reported on Sunday. The attacks dimmed hopes that the US-mediated ceasefire, which took effect on October 11, would lead to lasting peace in the enclave as Israel traded blame with Hamas.
Palestinians in Gaza told Reuters they heard explosions and gunfire in Rafah in the south of the strip and witnesses separately reported heavy gunfire from Israeli tanks in the eastern town of Abassan near Khan Younis, also in southern Gaza. Witnesses in Khan Younis heard a wave of airstrikes launched into Rafah early on Sunday afternoon.
Israel and Hamas have been engaged in a dispute over the return of the bodies of deceased hostages. Israel demanded that Hamas fulfill its obligations in turning over the remaining bodies of all 28 hostages.
Hamas has returned all 20 live hostages and 12 of the deceased and has said it has no interest in keeping the bodies of remaining hostages. The group said the process needs effort and special equipment to recover corpses buried under rubble.
