Saudi campaign raises millions of dollars for Gaza

A campaign in Saudi Arabia has raised around 100 million riyals (approximately US$26.7 million)  in donations to provide relief to Gaza, Shrouk News reported on Sunday, citing the spokesperson for the King Salman Centre for Relief, Dr. Samer Al-Jatili.

The donations will be used towards ambulances, water tanks and food, amid Israel’s indiscriminate war on the besieged Gaza Strip, which has been ongoing since October 2023.

Al-Jatili told local media that the King Salman Centre for Relief has been coordinating with authorities to ensure that the aid reaches civilians in Gaza, as the war continues to rage on.

He added that he hopes the donations will send a "firm message" to the world that Kingdom stands with Palestine.

The campaign, titled ‘Gaza Relief’ had over two million donors contribute to it, Al-Jatili told Al-Khabariya TV in an interview.

"These figures [of donations] are not new when you look at the history of the Kingdom when it comes to donations, however, they reiterate that the support does not stop, and we pray that the suffering of those in Palestine comes to an end", he said.

"We will not give up on the people of Palestine, regardless of the cost or load" he continued.

In September, the Kingdom’s ministry of foreign affairs vowed to help address the humanitarian situation in the Strip by sending a monthly aid package to "brothers in Palestine" in an effort to alleviate the "humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and its surrounding areas".

The foreign ministry did not specify the amount nor the exact recipients, but this came after the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, visited Saudi Arabia in August.

Prior to the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023, Saudi Arabia was close to normalising relations with Israel, with anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian narratives removed from Saudi media.

Gaza has been utterly devastated by the Israeli war, particularly in the north where Israel is engaged in a brutal campaign which has targeted hospitals and killed at least 1,800 people over the past month.

Israel has totally besieged northern Gaza and stopped aid from entering, in what is believed to be a campaign to kill, starve or expel the remaining inhabitants of the area.

According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people, or around 90 percent of Gaza’s population, are now internally displaced, with some being displaced 10 times or more.

Last week, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) urged for immediate action in a bid to prevent the a famine as Israel continues to hamper emergency aid efforts.

"Now, as the situation in northern Gaza continues to deteriorate, the likelihood of a larger group being impacted by famine will surely increase unless conditions on the ground improve," the WFP said in a statement.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 43,601 Palestinians and wounded over 101,223 others since 7 October 2023.