Foreign Office finds no abuse in Gaza aid
Germany and the USA are the largest donors of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Following Hamas' attack on Israel, questions are being raised as to where the millions actually end up: in schools or with terrorists. A review by the Federal Foreign Office reveals no misuse.
The Federal Foreign Office has scrutinized the humanitarian aid payments for the Palestinian territories and, according to its own statements, has found no misuse. "The review of humanitarian aid for the Palestinians has been completed, and there have been no conspicuous findings regarding possible indirect aid for terrorist organizations," according to the Berlin Ministry. It is not known what exactly the review looked like.
In total, Germany has provided humanitarian aid amounting to around 161 million euros for the people in the Palestinian territories this year. According to the Ministry of Development Aid, it has not yet completed its review of aid payments. After the Hamas attack on Israel, questions were raised as to where donations and aid money actually end up: in schools or with the terrorist group?
"As a first partial result, the already planned pledge of 71 million euros for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been released and an additional 20 million euros have been made available," said the spokesperson. "As a first step, these 91 million euros will be used to finance measures to maintain basic services for displaced people in the Gaza Strip and to support Palestinian refugees in Jordan."
World Food Program warns of famine catastrophe
According to the report, UNRWA's involvement in the southern Gaza Strip, which is financed by German development funds, focuses on providing the civilian population with a permanent supply of drinking water as well as hygiene and sanitary facilities in emergency shelters for people displaced within the Gaza Strip.
Since the start of the Israeli retaliatory attack for the Hamas massacres 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 the civilian population is threatened by 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 start of the Israeli attacks, including around 5,000 children. However, these figures cannot be independently verified. According to UN figures, around two thirds of the inhabitants are now considered homeless. They are unable to leave the Gaza Strip. Neither Israel nor Egypt are taking in refugees.
Around 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, most of them civilians. In addition, the radical Islamic organization abducted around 240 people as hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized the importance of German aid for the Palestinians. The SPD politician said in Nuthetal, Brandenburg, at a citizens' dialog in his constituency that Germany not only stood by Israel, but was also the largest donor of humanitarian aid for the Palestinians together with the USA. "It is not the states in the neighborhood, although some are very rich," he emphasized with regard to the Arab countries. "We are the ones who make it possible for schools and hospitals to be run there," he said of the Palestinian territories.
Source: www.ntv.de
