A summit in Jordan to raise funds for Gaza
Jordan is organizing an international conference on Tuesday aimed at raising funds for humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, devastated by eight months of war.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who began a new tour of the Middle East on Monday to plead for a ceasefire, is due to attend this conference, organized jointly by the United Nations, Jordan and Egypt .
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other leaders are also expected there as well as UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths and NGO leaders.
Much of the Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble and a majority of its 2.4 million residents have been displaced by the fighting. The UN has been warning for several months that famine threatens in Gaza.
In a recent report, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) denounce “the devastating impact of ongoing conflict, heavy access restrictions and the collapse of local agri-food systems”.
Humanitarian aid has been entering the territory in dribs and drabs, particularly since the Israeli army launched a ground operation in the town of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, in early May and took the Palestinian side of the point. passing through Egypt, where most of the aid went.
The summit, held on the shores of the Red Sea, aims to bring together leaders and humanitarian aid officials to “determine ways to improve the international community’s response to the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip”according to the Jordanian Royal Palace.
Jordan’s foreign ministry said the conference would seek “commitments for a collective and coordinated response to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza”. “The main objective of this summit is to reach consensus on practical measures to meet the immediate needs on the ground”added the ministry.
