by Nette Noestlinger
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union pledged on Monday to devote 7.7 billion euros in 2024 to humanitarian aid, an amount down from last year, as needs increase, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
Member states and the European Commission had promised 8.4 billion euros in 2023. The European executive did not give reasons for the drop in funding this year.
“I think the amount is important (…) but could be more,” declared the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic, during the European Humanitarian Forum in Brussels.
Read also…
According to the UN, $50 billion is missing to cover the needs of 300 million people in the world, a record.
“The number of people in emergency situations is at an all-time high,” said the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, during the conference.
“Gaza is no longer on the verge of famine: famine is in Gaza,” the official stressed, adding that hunger was being used “as a weapon of war.”
The two-day conference is expected to focus on how to get more aid to the Palestinian enclave, a subject also expected to be addressed by European foreign ministers meeting Monday in Brussels.
(Reporting by Nette Nöstlinge, French version Corentin Chappron, editing by Sophie Louet)
©2024 Thomson Reuters, all rights reserved. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. “Reuters” and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies.