Turkish aid agency delivers Ramadan food packages to Palestine

By Mehmet Alaca

JERUSALEM (AA) – A Turkish aid agency on Thursday delivered Ramadan food packages to the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs to be distributed among 1,000 families residing in refugee camps in various cities of Palestine.

The socio-economic hardships stemming from the Israeli longstanding occupation policies in the West Bank and the deadly war on Gaza have been intensifying.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while most of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

In addition to the increased unemployment and poverty after the war, pressure and attacks on cities like Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Tubas, Nablus, and Ramallah, particularly targeting refugee camps in these cities, are also escalating.

Orhan Aydin, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) coordinator for Palestine, said that they will continue to stand by the Palestinian people throughout the month of Ramadan, conducting activities such as food distribution, providing provisions to soup kitchens, and organizing iftar programs in various parts of Palestine, including Gaza.

As part of the Ramadan assistance, the relief agency also visited the Al Am'ari Refugee Camp, which has recently been subjected to attacks, and distributed food packages among needy families.

Israel has waged a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since a Hamas attack last October which killed some 1,200 people.

More than 31,300 people have since been killed and 73,100 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas