Maldives launches fundraiser for Palestine

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Maldives on Wednesday launched a nationwide fundraiser campaign for Palestine.

“Maldivians in Solidarity with Palestine” campaign was launched by President Mohamed Muizzu in the capital Male, his office said.

The campaign will continue late today with 13 donation boxes in the Greater Male’ area.

Muizzu urged people to “make greatest assistance to the people of Palestine."

Ruling People’s National Congress lawmakers also made donations to the campaign, which is being run in collaboraion with local media.

Notably, Maldives early this month decided to impose a ban on Israeli citizens entering the island nation over Tel Aviv’s ongoing war on Gaza.

The decision includes amending necessary laws to prevent Israeli passport holders from entering the Maldives and establishing a Cabinet subcommittee to oversee these efforts.

In addition to the ban, Maldives had said Muizzu will appoint a special envoy to assess the needs of the Palestinians and launch a fundraising campaign and the donations will be routed through the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 37,200 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 84,800 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.