How Arab states are aiding Palestinians amid Gaza’s deepening humanitarian emergency 

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Saudi Arabia and the UAE have pledged assistance to Gaza, but aid agencies have struggled to gain access via the Rafah border crossing. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Updated 20 October 2023
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How Arab states are aiding Palestinians amid Gaza’s deepening humanitarian emergency 

  • Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have pledged millions of dollars to assist Palestinians under Israeli bombardment 
  • Gaza has been under strict Israeli embargo since Hamas launched its cross-border attack on Israel on October 7

RIYADH: As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens in tandem with Israel’s expanding war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Arab Gulf states have been pledging aid and support to assist civilians living under siege and daily bombardment.

Since Hamas launched its unprecedented cross-border attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Gaza has been under strict Israeli embargo, depriving its 2.2 million-strong population of food, water, medicine, and electricity.

Gaza’s only power plant quickly shut down owing to a lack of fuel. According to the UN, hospitals in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of civilians have taken shelter, are expected to run out of generator fuel within days, putting the lives of patients at risk.

The siege, combined with the closure of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, meant that humanitarian aid agencies found it impossible to deliver assistance. More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tons of aid are reported to be positioned at or near the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt.

UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, has said that unless water and fuel are sent “immediately,” Gaza inhabitants are in “imminent danger” of epidemics and death.

 

 

On Wednesday, Israel said it would allow Egypt to deliver limited humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The announcement to allow water, food, and other supplies came as anger over the blast at Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Hospital spread across the Middle East, and as US President Joe Biden visited Israel in hopes of preventing a wider conflict in the region.

Biden said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi agreed to open the crossing and to let in an initial group of 20 trucks with humanitarian aid. The convoy would start moving on Friday at the earliest, White House officials said.




Medics and a convoy of trucks loaded with aid supplies for Gaza provided by Egyptian NGOs waits for an agreement to cross through the Egypt-Gaza border in Arish City in Egypt’s north Sinai Peninsula on October 15, 2023. (AFP)

The office of the Israeli prime minister said Israel “will not thwart” deliveries of food, water, or medicine from Egypt, as long as they are limited to civilians in the south of Gaza and do not go to Hamas militants.

Supplies would go in under the supervision of the UN, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told Al-Arabiya TV.

The Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing has been bombed multiple times since Israel launched its war on Hamas. Egypt will have to repair the road across the border that was cratered by Israeli airstrikes.




Medics and a convoy of trucks loaded with aid supplies for Gaza provided by Egyptian NGOs waits for an agreement to cross through the Egypt-Gaza border in Arish City in Egypt’s north Sinai Peninsula on October 15, 2023. (AFP)

“At this stage, we can’t bring aid into Gaza,” Christoph Hangar, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, told Arab News before the Israeli announcement was made.

“We are pre-positioning staff and relief items as we speak so we’re ready when access to Gaza is granted, which it must urgently be.”

In response to the deepening humanitarian emergency, Arab Gulf states have renewed their commitment to the resolution of the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and pledged millions of dollars in aid to the relief effort.




Volunteers and NGO workers stand near tents that they set up along the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on October 19, 2023, demanding clearance for an aid convoy to enter the Gaza Strip. (AFP)

Israel has ordered residents of north Gaza to leave for the south, hoping perhaps to clear the area of civilians in preparation for a ground invasion, which would likely involve brutal urban combat.

The Oct. 7 attack killed at least 1,400 people, most of them Israeli civilians, and resulted in the capture of more than 200 people, who are now being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and other “resistance factions.”

The presence of the hostages in the enclave has complicated Israel’s plans for a ground invasion.

INNUMBERS

2.4 million Population of the Gaza Strip.

1 million People displaced by the Israeli bombardment.

3,000 Palestinians killed across the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

$2 million Money donated to UNRWA by Saudi Arabia.

$6 billion Funding provided to Palestinians by KSrelief since 2000.

Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, was due to meet El-Sisi in Egypt on Thursday to discuss how to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN chief, said in a statement: “Obviously, in order to move humanitarian aid through Gaza, we need safe passage. We can’t move humanitarian trucks and convoys while active bombardment is ongoing.

“There are intense discussions going on in which we’re involved with a number of parties in order to try to get the most basic humanitarian aid in as quickly as possible and that’s food, water, medicine. Those things are urgently needed.”




Boxes of humanitarian aid and supplies from the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization are loaded aboard cargo planes in Amman, Jordan, for Gaza on Oct. 12, 2023. (REUTERS)

“Since the creation of Israel, the Saudi population and government have always been very sympathetic to the Palestinian cause,” Khaled Al-Maeena, a Saudi political commentator, told Arab News.

“It was done out of genuine goodwill for the Palestinian people who were oppressed and whose lands were occupied. What we are witnessing now is a Palestinian holocaust.”

Since 2000, the Saudi aid agency KSrelief has provided more than $6 billion in aid to the Palestinian people across multiple sectors, including food security, health, education, water, sanitation, and shelter.

In 2022 alone, Saudi Arabia contributed $27 million to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. On Monday, Saudi Arabia announced it would be donating a further $2 million to UNRWA.




Saudi humanitarian aid group KSrelief has a continuing food basket distribution project in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (KSrelief photo)

The money was presented to Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA commissioner general, by Naif Al-Sudairi, the Saudi ambassador to Jordan, at the Saudi Embassy in Amman on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia’s private sector has also been making pledges. McDonald’s KSA has publicly announced it will be donating $533,000 to Gaza relief efforts, stating it was “proud of its Saudi identity” and support for humanitarian issues.

“As a purely Saudi company, we have been proud, since our inception, of our Saudi identity, and our continuous contribution to supporting our economy and national community and adopting social and humanitarian matters that our community is concerned with,” the restaurant chain said in an online statement.

“We are delighted to announce that McDonald’s KSA will be donating SR2 million ($533,201) to support the relief efforts for the citizens of Gaza, may God help them. This contribution follows coordination with the relevant official authorities.”

Prior to the conflict, US-brokered talks had been underway concerning the potential normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel pending clear signs of progress on the status of the Palestinians.

In August, while these talks were ongoing, the Kingdom also offered to resume financial support for the Palestinian Authority.

How the present crisis will impact the normalization talks remains to be seen, but the Kingdom’s stance on the need to resolve the Palestinian question remains unchanged.

In a statement following the Hamas attack, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said it was “renewing its call on the international community to assume its responsibilities and activate a credible peace process that leads to a two-state solution in a way that achieves security and peace in the region and protects civilians.”




Staff members unload aid for the Palestinian Gaza Strip from an Emirates cargo plane on the tarmac of Egypt's el-Arish airport in the north Sinai Peninsula on October 19, 2023. (AFP)

In 2020, the UAE became the first Arab Gulf state to normalize relations with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries came into effect in March this year, signifying Israel’s first free trade agreement with an Arab state. Bahrain and Morocco followed suit.

In response to the crisis now unfolding in Gaza, the UAE has launched a campaign dubbed Tarahum — or “compassion” in Arabic — to help vulnerable civilians, particularly the 1 million children who make up nearly half of Gaza’s population.

Overseen by the Emirates Red Crescent, the UAE has called for donations and volunteers, with its first relief center established at the Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal.




UAE's Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, accompanied by other top officials, visits the Tarahum - for Gaza campaign center in Abu Dhabi, which opened on October 15. Other aid collection centers will also be opened across the ‎UAE at later dates. (WAM photo)

A plane carrying medical supplies has already been sent to the Egyptian city of El-Arish before onward transit to the Rafah border crossing, according to the Emirati state news agency WAM.

On Tuesday, Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, prime minister of the UAE, directed the provision of $20 million in humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.

Qatar has likewise established its own aid effort, deploying a plane bound for El-Arish on Monday carrying 37 tons of food and medical aid, provided by the Qatar Fund for Development under the direction of Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

“This aid is part of the State of Qatar’s full support for the fraternal Palestinian people amid the difficult humanitarian conditions due to the Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.




Qatari Air Force crew load food and medical aid to a cargo plane on October 16, 2023, at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha. The humanitarian aid from the Qatar Fund for Development is headed to Egypt for Gaza refugees. (Qatar News Agency/Handout via REUTERS)

Palestinians have been massing at the sealed Rafah border crossing since the crisis began, in the hope of leaving Gaza before the much talked about ground offensive begins. On the other side of the border fence, aid agencies are powerless to intervene.

“We are exploring all avenues to bring life-saving aid into Gaza,” said Hangar of the ICRC. “This initial goods convoy includes medicine and thousands of household kits for families which include hygiene items and chlorine tablets for drinking water.”

He added: “We are also urgently deploying staff to relieve colleagues in Gaza whenever we are able to move in. This includes a mobile surgical team and other health staff, a weapons contamination expert, and relief coordinators specialized in water and habitat and food security.”

 


Jordanian king, Omani sultan discuss Iran-Israel conflict, call for peaceful dialogue

Updated 3 sec ago
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Jordanian king, Omani sultan discuss Iran-Israel conflict, call for peaceful dialogue

  • They stressed the need to intensify coordination to extinguish the fires of conflict in Gaza and between Israel and Iran
  • King Abdullah emphasized that peace in the region cannot be achieved without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue

LONDON: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman and King Abdullah II of Jordan discussed the Iran-Israel conflict and the serious repercussions of the escalation of tensions in the region.

During a call on Monday, they stressed the need to intensify coordination to extinguish the fires of conflict in the Gaza Strip and the ongoing tensions resulting from Israeli actions against Iran, the Oman News Agency reported.

They also called for peaceful dialogue and negotiation to find political solutions to regional issues that align with international law, ensuring security and stability, the ONA added.

King Abdullah emphasized that peace in the region cannot be achieved without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue based on a two-state solution, the Petra news agency reported.

The Iran-Israel conflict has escalated following US strikes on three nuclear sites inside Iran on Sunday. Tel Aviv and Tehran have exchanged attacks over the past 11 days, risking a full-scale war in the Middle East.


Israel targeting Tehran’s Evin prison, ‘agencies of repression’: minister

Updated 23 June 2025
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Israel targeting Tehran’s Evin prison, ‘agencies of repression’: minister

  • President Donald Trump hinted Sunday at interest in changing Iran’s system of government
  • Evin prison is often used to hold foreign nationals and Iranians that are seen by rights groups as political prisoners

Jerusalem: Israel targeted Tehran’s notorious Evin prison as well as the command centers of security agencies in Iran responsible for “maintaining the regime’s stability,” a minister and the military said Monday.
The Israeli military “is carrying out strikes of unprecedented force against regime targets and agencies of government repression in the heart of Tehran,” Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X as the Iran-Israel war raged for an 11th day.
These included Evin prison — “which holds political prisoners and regime opponents” — as well as the command centers of the domestic Basij militia and the powerful Revolutionary Guards, he added.
In a separate statement, the military said that it was hitting command centers of security forces including the Revolutionary Guards, a wing of the Iranian military.
“These forces... are responsible on behalf of the Iranian regime’s military for defending the homeland security, suppressing threats, and maintaining the regime’s stability,” it said in a statement.
Israel began its military campaign against Iran on June 13 with strikes on the country’s nuclear and missile facilities, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as an “existential” threat for his country.
But the list of targets has widened since then, encompassing state television and the Iranian domestic security forces, raising speculation that Israel is seeking to topple Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
President Donald Trump hinted Sunday at interest in changing Iran’s system of government, despite several of his administration officials earlier stressing that US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites overnight on Saturday-Sunday did not have that goal.
“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
AFP journalists heard explosions in northern Tehran on Monday and Iran’s Red Crescent reported a strike near its building in the area.
Evin prison is often used to hold foreign nationals and Iranians that are seen by rights groups as political prisoners.
Iran is believed to hold around 20 European nationals, many of whose cases have never been published, in what some Western governments describe as a strategy of hostage-taking aimed at extracting concessions.
The prison is a large, heavily fortified complex located in a northern district of the Iranian capital, and is notorious among activists for alleged rights abuses.
At least three waves of incoming Iranian missiles were reported by the Israeli military on Monday.
Katz, a hard-liner in Netanyahu’s government, added that “for every rocket fired at Israel’s home front, the Iranian dictator will be severely punished, and the attacks will continue with full force.”


Erdogan says won’t let terror ‘drag Syria back to instability’

Updated 23 June 2025
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Erdogan says won’t let terror ‘drag Syria back to instability’

ISTANBUL: Turkiye will not allow extremists to drag Syria back into chaos and instability, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday after a suicide attack killed 22 at a Damascus church.
“We will never allow our neighbor and brother Syria... be dragged into a new environment of instability through proxy terrorist organizations,” he said, vowing to support the new government’s fight against such groups.


Air raid sirens sound as Israel warns of incoming Iran missiles as conflict enters 11th day

Updated 24 min 47 sec ago
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Air raid sirens sound as Israel warns of incoming Iran missiles as conflict enters 11th day

  • Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 950 people and wounded 3,450 others
  • Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Canberra supports US strike on Iran

Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 950 people and wounded 3,450 others, a human rights group said Monday.

The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists offered the figures, which covers the entirety of Iran. It said of those dead, it identified 380 civilians and 253 security force personnel being killed.

Human Rights Activists, which also provided detailed casualty figures during the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, crosschecks local reports in the Islamic Republic against a network of sources it has developed in the country.

Iran has not been offering regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimized casualties in the past. On Saturday, Iran’s Health Ministry said some 400 Iranians had been killed and another 3,056 wounded in the Israeli strikes.

Iran has not been offering regular death tolls during the conflict and has minimized casualties in the past. (AFP)

Tehran vows to avenge attack on nuclear sites

Tehran threatened on Monday to inflict “serious” damage in retaliation for US strikes on the Islamic republic’s nuclear facilities, as the Iran-Israel war entered its 11th day despite calls for de-escalation.

Aerial assaults meanwhile raged on, with air raid sirens sounding across Israel and AFP journalists reporting several blasts were heard over Jerusalem.

The Israeli military said it had struck missile sites in western Iran as well as “six Iranian regime airports” across the country, destroying fighter jets and helicopters.

President Donald Trump said US warplanes used “bunker buster” bombs to target sites in Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz, boasting the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

Other officials said it was too soon to assess the true impact on Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel and some Western states consider an existential threat.

Iranian armed forces spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari said on state television that the US “hostile act,” following more than a week of Israeli bombardments, would “pave the way for the extension of war in the region.”

“The fighters of Islam will inflict serious, unpredictable consequences on you with powerful and targeted (military) operations,” he warned.

Iran foreign minister Abbas Araghchi described Sunday’s attacks “lawless and criminal” behavior. (AFP)

Iran foreign minister to meet key ally Putin

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was due to hold “important” talks with key ally Vladimir Putin on Monday, 48 hours after a major US attack on Iran’s key nuclear facilities.

Moscow is a crucial backer of Tehran, but has not swung forcefully behind its partner since Israel launched a wave of attacks on June 13, strikes that triggered Iran to respond with missiles and drones.

While Russia condemned the Israeli and US strikes, it has not offered military help and has downplayed its obligations under a sweeping strategic partnership agreement signed with Tehran just months ago.

“In this new dangerous situation ... our consultations with Russia can certainly be of great importance,” Russian state media reported Araghchi as saying after landing in Moscow.

Australia says it supports US strike, calls for return to diplomacy

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Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday that Canberra supported the United States strike on Iran and called for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy.

“The world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon and we support action to prevent that,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

Albanese said “the information has been clear” that Iran had enriched uranium to 60 percent and “there is no other explanation for it to reach 60, other than engaging in a program that wasn’t about civilian nuclear power.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog that inspects Iran’s nuclear facilities, reported on May 31 that Iran had enough uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons.

“Had Iran complied with the very reasonable requests that were made, including by the IAEA, then circumstances would have been different,” said Albanese, referring to limitations on enrichment.

 

 


What do we know about US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities?

Updated 23 June 2025
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What do we know about US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities?

  • Tehran says damage limited, no radiation leaks after Trump declares Iran’s uranium-enrichment capabilities destroyed
  • Assault involved 14 bunker-buster bombs, more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles and over 125 military aircraft

DUBAI: Amid mounting speculation, the US launched air strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities on Saturday.

The operation aimed to support Israel in its war against Iran — ongoing since June 13 — by crippling Tehran’s uranium enrichment capacity, according to Asharq News.

US President Donald Trump later announced that Iran’s uranium-enrichment abilities had been eliminated, warning Tehran against any “retaliatory response.” Tehran, however, described the damage as “limited” and dismissed any indications of radiation leaks.

US President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House in Washington on June 21, 2025, following the announcement that the US bombed nuclear sites in Iran. (POOL / AFP)

The US strikes included 14 bunker-buster bombs, more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles and over 125 military aircraft, in an operation the top US general, General Dan Caine, said was named “Operation Midnight.”

Asharq News reported that the strikes targeted three critical nuclear facilities instrumental in Iran’s nuclear fuel cycle: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear complex.

These sites span the entire fuel-enrichment chain — from raw uranium conversion, through enrichment, to the production of fuel and technical components for research reactors.

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• The B-2 completed its first-ever combat deployment in Iraq, flying 22 sorties and releasing more than 1.5 million pounds of munitions.

This handout satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on December 11, 2020 shows an overview of Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), northeast of the Iranian city of Qom. (AFP)

Fordo facility

Location and structure: Fordo is 30 kilometers northeast of Qom, embedded within a mountain at an altitude of approximately 1,750 m, with over 80 meters of rock and volcanic shielding — making it one of Iran’s most fortified sites.

Technical role: It houses two underground halls that can hold about 3,000 IR-1 centrifuges, enriching uranium up to 60 percent — a level nearing weapons -grade.

Strategic importance: It is a primary target in any military effort to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear military capability, due to its high capacity and protection.

This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows Iran's shows Natanz nuclear research center in the central Iranian province of Isfahan. (AFP) 

Natanz reactor

Location and structure: Situated near Kashan in central Iran, partially buried under about 8 meters of earth with a 220meter-thick concrete roof, naturally shielded by surrounding mountainous terrain.

Technical role: Contains primary and experimental plants with over 14,000 centrifuges (IR-1, IR-2m, IR-4, IR-6), making it Iran’s main industrial enrichment hub.

Strategic importance: Responsible for producing most of Iran’s low-enriched uranium and plays a key role in centrifuge development.

This handout satellite picture provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 22, 2025, shows damage after US strikes on the Isfahan nuclear enrichment facility in central Iran. (AFP)

Isfahan nuclear complex

Location and structure: Located south of Isfahan on an arid plateau away from populated areas, it is neither buried nor heavily fortified.

Technical role: Includes a Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF); a research reactor fuel production plant; and a metallic fuel pelletizing plant, and three research reactors.

Strategic importance: Serves as the backbone of Iran’s nuclear research and production infrastructure, supplying both Natanz and Fordo.

The Pentagon used some of the world’s most advanced aircraft for Saturday’s strikes. The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions.

The bomber represents a major milestone in the US bomber modernization program. The B-2 brings massive firepower to bear anywhere on the globe through seemingly impenetrable defenses.

A B-2 bomber has a range over 11,000 km without refueling, capable of global reach from distant American bases. (Getty Images via AFP)

According to US officials, the bombers that carried out the Iran strikes flew for nearly 37 hours non-stop from its Missouri base, refueling in mid-air multiple times before striking in the early hours of Sunday.

A B-2 bomber offers several key advantages, primarily due to its stealth capabilities and global reach.

• A range over 11,000 km without refueling, capable of global reach from distant American bases.

• Stealth abilities such as flying-wing design and radar-absorbing materials that allow it to evade air defenses.

• It can carry both nuclear and conventional weapons, including the GBU‑57 bunker-buster bomb.

Initial reports quoted by Asharq News indicated that Fordo was hit with the GBU‑57, the most powerful US conventional bunker buster, designed for deeply buried targets like Fordo, which lies 90 meters underground. Fox News reported six bunker-busting bombs were dropped on Fordo, alongside approximately 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired at Natanz and Isfahan.

The GBU‑57 ‘Massive Ordnance Penetrator’ was designed by American military engineers to devastate deeply buried bunkers without radioactive fallout. It was the only nonnuclear weapon that could reach Iran’s hardest target.

• Weight: ~13,600 kg

• Length: 6.2 meters.

• Diameter: 0.8 meters.

• Explosive payload: 2,400 kg of high explosives.

• Guidance: GPS + inertial navigation.

* Penetration: Up to 60 meters of reinforced concrete or dense rock.

A Tomahawk cruise missile is a precision weapon that launches from ships, submarines and ground launchers and can strike targets precisely from a great distance, even in heavily defended airspace.

• Range: 1,250–2,500 km depending on variant.

• Speed: Subsonic (~880 km/h).

• Guidance: Inertial navigation, GPS, with some variants using terminal guidance (TERCOM, DSMAC).

• Warhead: ~450 kg conventional explosives.

• Launch platforms: Ships and submarines.

There has been a torrent of responses to the US move against Iran, Asharq News reported. President Trump declared the mission’s success, stating that the Fordo facility was “gone,” and Iran’s primary nuclear enrichment sites “completely and utterly destroyed.” Later on Sunday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes were an incredible and overwhelming success that have “obliterated Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.”

For its part, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency quoted an official saying the nuclear sites had been evacuated in advance, and the damage was “not irreparable.” The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran stated there was “no risk of any radiation leak.” Iran emphasized its nuclear industry would not be halted.