Funds are released
Foreign Office finds no abuse in Gaza aid
November 18, 2023, 5:28 p.m
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Germany and the USA are the largest donors of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. After Hamas’ attack on Israel, questions are being raised about where the millions actually end up: in schools or with terrorists. During an inspection, the Foreign Office did not discover any abuse.
The Foreign Office has examined humanitarian aid payments for the Palestinian territories and says it has not found any abuse. “The review of humanitarian aid for the Palestinians has been completed and there have been no abnormalities regarding possible indirect aid to terrorist organizations,” says the Berlin ministry. It is not known exactly what the review looked like.
In total, Germany has provided around 161 million euros in humanitarian aid for the people in the Palestinian territories this year. According to its own statements, the Development Aid Ministry has not yet completed its audits of aid payments. After Hamas’ attack on Israel, questions were raised about where donations and aid money actually end up: in schools or with the terrorist group?
“As a first partial result, the already planned commitment of 71 million euros for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was released and an additional 20 million euros were made available,” said the spokesman. “In a first step, these 91 million euros will be used to finance measures that maintain basic services for the displaced people in the Gaza Strip and support the Palestinian refugees in Jordan.”
World Food Program warns of famine catastrophe
The focus of UNRWA’s commitment in the southern Gaza Strip, which is financed with German development funds, is the permanent supply of drinking water to the civilian population as well as hygiene and sanitation facilities in emergency shelters for people displaced within the Gaza Strip.
Since the Israeli retaliatory attack for the Hamas massacres began on October 7, the situation in the Palestinian coastal strip with a population of over two million has become increasingly precarious. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) warns that civilians are at risk of hunger due to food shortages.
Scholz praises humanitarian aid
According to the radical Islamic group Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, at least 12,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli attacks began, including around 5,000 children. However, this information cannot be independently verified. According to the UN, around two thirds of the residents are now considered homeless. They cannot leave the Gaza Strip. Neither Israel nor Egypt accept refugees.
Around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed in Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7th. The radical Islamic organization also kidnapped around 240 people as hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized the importance of German help for the Palestinians. Germany not only stands on Israel’s side, but is, together with the USA, the largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, said the SPD politician in Nuthetal, Brandenburg, in a citizens’ dialogue in his constituency. “It’s not the states in the neighborhood, although some are very rich,” he emphasized, referring to the Arab countries. “We are the ones who make it possible for schools and hospitals to operate there,” he said of the Palestinian territories.