Qatar pledges $50 million humanitarian aid package to Gaza's war-hit residents

Qatar on December 13 vowed to provide $50 million in humanitarian aid to residents of the Gaza Strip, who are currently impacted by Israel’s non-stop aggression and siege.

The aid package will benefit refugees, displaced persons, orphans and wounded individuals, an official statement posted on X reads, according to New Arab.

This came during Qatar’s participation in the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, Switzerland, held to improve conditions for refugees and host countries.

The forum, held every four years and organised by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is taking place between 13 and 15 December this year.

Doha said it would also provide 100 scholarships to Palestinian students from Gaza enabling them to continue their university education in Qatar through the Al-Fakhoura programme.

Lolwah Al-Khater, the Minister of State for International Cooperation who represented Qatar at the forum, said Doha’s aid package was pledged "in response to the increasing humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories".

The diplomat expressed concern over the ongoing suffering which Palestinian refugees are subject to, as well as the alarming number of displaced people worldwide, currently standing at over 141 million.

"I would like to take this opportunity to emphasise the need to find a just, lasting and holistic solution to the suffering of more than 5.9 million registered Palestinian refugees," Al-Khater said.

The diplomat also stressed that Israel's war in Gaza "constitutes violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law", emphasising its obligation to ensure "the protection, welfare and human rights of the civilian population under its occupation" as an occupying power.