Humanitarian support for the civilian population in Gaza is a key concern of the Federal Government and an important foundation for stabilising and consolidating the ceasefire which has now been in place for a week. The Federal Foreign Office will therefore provide an additional 15 million euro for humanitarian assistance in the Palestinian territories. A large part of this funding will be used to help meet the basic needs of the people in Gaza, whom we are now providing with over 50 million euro in support this year alone.

The Federal Foreign Office is liaising closely with the aid organisations of the United Nations on the provision of humanitarian assistance. The funding that has been pledged will primarily be used to facilitate emergency food aid via UNRWA and the World Food Programme. We will thus be directly helping more than 1.4 million people who would not otherwise have reliable access to food. We are also supporting the work of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN OCHA, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, for example their efforts to combat the COVID‑19 pandemic.