An additional 19 million meals will be sent to displaced people in Gaza Strip as part of the ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI) announced.
All of the 19 million meals will be distributed to low-income families and individuals will receive food vouchers in collaboration with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
The distribution comes in support to vulnerable groups including those impacted by the recent violence that displaced thousands in Palestine. This includes 77,000 who took refuge in UN schools and headquarters and an additional 40,000 who fled to friends and family homes in the Gaza Strip.
WFP’s e-vouchers enable beneficiaries to shop from a network of contracted supermarkets in the amounts that sustain their households, providing them with a chance at a dignified life. They inject much-needed cash into Gaza`s ailing economy supporting the resilience of small businesses in the face of shocks.
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The ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign, launched earlier in Ramadan to provide food aid for disadvantaged individuals and families across 30 countries, had already allocated 9 million meals to be distributed in Palestine. Food aid has so far reached beneficiaries in the West Bank.
Sara Al Nuaimi, Director of MBRGI, said, “Through the 19 million meals, which will be added to the previously allocated 9 million meals to the West Bank, we aim to reach 207,385 people in Gaza with urgent food support over one month.”
“About 70 percent of families in the Gaza Strip are facing food insecurity, according to WFP figures. The additional food support, provided through the ‘100 Million Meals’ campaign, is a message of solidarity from the UAE to those most affected by this difficult reality,” Al Nuami furthered.
Mageed Yahia, Director of WFP office in the UAE and Representative to the GCC, expressed gratitude to the additional AED10 million contribution from MBRGI as it comes at a time when food needs have increased significantly in Palestine due to the recent upsurge in conflict.
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“This funding will enable WFP to continue providing much-needed support to food-insecure families who have been displaced and staying at hosting families and many others whose homes and livelihoods have been affected, without which they have nothing to feed their children,” he said.
High poverty and unemployment rates in Palestine hinder families and individuals from accessing food made available in markets. Of the total five-million-person population, two million people – 1.4 million in Gaza and 600,000 in the West Bank – are estimated to be severely food insecure.
MBRGI has partnered with the WFP, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Humanitarian and Charity Establishment, the Food Banking Regional Network, and 12 food banks and nine humanitarian institutions to carry out the distribution of meals across 30 countries. (RA)
