Saudi Arabia announced a government campaign to raise humanitarian aid for Gaza on Thursday and collected donations worth more than $17 million in just hours, The New York Times reported.
Saudi Arabia’s state aid campaign for Gaza comes as Israel approaches one month of battling Hamas, the militant group that launched a deadly surprise attack Oct. 7. Since then, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas and had cut off electricity, water and fuel for the people in Gaza — a move that many officials and humanitarian groups warned would lead to a crisis in the territory.
Saudi Arabia announced King Salman kickstarted the aid campaign by contributing $8 million and that his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, donated about $5.3 million, according to the Times. The campaign collected more than 60,000 donations in just the first few hours after it was launched.
A spokesperson for the government’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, which orchestrated the campaign, told the Times that the kingdom “has always been at the forefront of aiding the Palestinian people.”
Before the onset of the war, the Israeli and Saudi governments were attempting to normalize their relations, with encouragement from the U.S. However, some experts have said that an agreement between the two nations may be less likely due to the ongoing war.
When Hamas launched its initial attack on Israel, Saudi Arabia condemned the violence but criticized Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
“The Kingdom recalls its repeated warnings of the dangers of the explosion of the situation as a result of the continued occupation, and deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and the repetition of systematic provocations against its sanctities,” the government said in a statement at the time.
The U.S. has backed Israel in its efforts against Hamas, but in recent weeks has also focused its attention on getting humanitarian aid and support for civilians living in Gaza. Israel has upped its bombardments of Gaza and has increased ground operations in the territory over the last week.
President Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. is “continuing working to significantly step up” humanitarian assistance into Gaza, noting that not enough has been done. The White House also said it would begin considering support for a “humanitarian pause” that would allow aid into Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry said that Israel’s airstrikes have killed about 9,000 civilians.
The U.S. has said Hamas is to blame for not letting civilians out of Gaza, saying that the organization wanted to use them as “human shields.” Hundreds of civilians in Gaza have been permitted to leave in recent days, including hundreds of Americans and other foreign nationals, as well as injured Palestinians.