Humanitarian initiatives announced in Doha targeting the residents of the Gaza Strip (Al Jazeera)

Doha- Education Above All in Qatar has announced new extraordinary steps to address the dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip through an initiative to support more than 233,33 war-affected children and youth, with a total value of QAR <> million, under the title "Rebuilding Hope in Gaza".

During a press conference in Education City in Doha, Al Fakhoora CEO Talal Al-Hathhal said that the Chairperson of Education Above All, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, took the initiative to find immediate and practical solutions to provide humanitarian support to the Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip through exceptional steps to address the humanitarian crisis there.

According to Al-Hathal, this initiative includes projects worth 33 million Qatari riyals (the dollar is equivalent to 3.65 Qatari riyals), explaining that this work comes in strategic partnership with a number of entities, including the Qatar Fund for Development, Qatar Red Crescent, Qatar Charity, the General Administration of Awqaf, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund, Save the Children and the University of Science and Technology in Doha.

Alhathal announces that the steps include projects worth QAR 33 million (Al Jazeera)

Supporting the education process

Al-Hathhal pointed out that the State of Qatar did not hesitate to provide a helping hand to the Al-Fakhoora program, which was launched about 15 years ago as a symbol of standing with the Palestinian people, supporting the education process for more than a thousand students in the Gaza Strip, as well as rebuilding schools and universities, because the right to access the right to high-quality education is the best way to promote international peace and security.

Al-Hathhal revealed the details of the initiative, which includes 5 main projects:

  • Providing psychosocial support to out-of-school children and adolescents affected by the crisis in cooperation with UNICEF, to serve 51,<> beneficiaries.
  • Provide initial psychological support and an important educational space for children displaced out of education and affected by the escalation of violence in Gaza.
  • Distributed winter equipment and supplies, recreational tools, and psychosocial and recreational support activities to benefit 14,<> children.
  • Providing scholarships to Palestinian children and youth through the Qatar Scholarship Program and benefiting from partnership with local universities and schools, benefiting 100 Palestinian children and youth.

Al-Hathhal pointed out that the projects also include providing hot meals and food aid to displaced children who are not enrolled in schools in the Gaza Strip in cooperation with Qatar Charity and the Qatar Red Crescent to more than 150,<> beneficiaries.

In addition to providing basic hygiene supplies and periodic health care for girls and women, as well as providing humanitarian initiatives through displaced youth inside and outside IDP shelters to serve 15,<> beneficiaries.

He pointed out that these initiatives are basic projects commensurate with the necessary needs during the war period, while in the post-war period, there are multiple teams working to develop appropriate plans for reconstruction.

Since the outbreak of the crisis, #قطر_الخيرية has launched several solidarity campaigns with the Palestinian people in #غزة to alleviate the severity and difficulty of the situation they are going through. The first was the #لأجل_فلسطين campaign and the #كالجسد_الواحد campaign was launched to confront the dangers of winter. It focused mainly on the Gaza Strip and Palestine. pic.twitter.com/Yz5mHShduy

— Qatar Charity | Qatar Charity (@qcharity) December 21, 2023

Hold your fire

For his part, the CEO of Education Above All, Fahad Al-Sulaiti, said that the Foundation is steadfast in its dedication to providing unwavering support to those affected by the war on the Gaza Strip through the Al Fakhoora program, and through collaborative efforts and innovative interventions, the Foundation is working hard to rebuild lives and instill hope in the hearts of those most in need.

Al-Sulaiti called for an immediate ceasefire, ensuring humanitarian access, as well as accountability for attacks targeting educational institutions and UN facilities in Gaza.

For his part, the Director of the Department of Programs and International Development at Qatar Charity, Abdulaziz Hajji, said that it hastened to respond from the first moment to the aggression on Gaza in meeting the basic needs in the field, and then continued relief aid that was shipped through the air bridge to Al-Arish Airport in Egypt to be transported to the Gaza Strip, which exceeded 230 tons of food and non-food supplies.

He pointed to projects being implemented on the ground by Qatar Charity as well, including food supply, shelter and tents, especially with the onset of winter, in addition to providing medical assistance such as first aid kits, and providing drinking water, which benefited more than one million people.

Hajji: There is a working mechanism to provide aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza (Al Jazeera)

Reconstruction

As for reconstruction, Hajji explained that there is a working mechanism that includes several teams, including those working in the front lines in the field and their role in urgent intervention, in addition to other teams working to develop a mechanism and priorities for post-war reconstruction, in coordination with the concerned authorities.

Mohammed Salah, Director of the International Relief and Development Sector at the Qatar Red Crescent, said that the Restoring Hope initiative in the Gaza Strip represents a continuation of the contribution of Qatar and its relevant institutions, especially with regard to the humanitarian situation in Gaza in permanent cooperation with local and international partners.

He added that the Qatar Red Crescent has spared no effort since the beginning of the crisis to perform its humanitarian duty and help alleviate the tragedy in Gaza, where extensive humanitarian interventions worth $ 5.5 million were carried out that contributed to sending 44 shipments of relief materials through the Gaza relief airlift.

Salah pointed out that the number of beneficiaries of the relief programs of the Qatar Red Crescent has so far reached about 350,<> people inside shelters in Gaza, where the field team of the Red Crescent was able to provide a wide range of needs of those affected, including medicines, medical consumables, ambulances, foodstuffs, personal hygiene packages and mobile clinics.

He explained that the Qatar Red Crescent is currently preparing to operate a variety of aid ships equivalent to the cargo of more than 30 aircraft, with the aim of intensifying the delivery of Qatari humanitarian aid to the afflicted people in Gaza.

Source : Al Jazeera