South Korea pledges $1.5M aid to Palestinians

ANKARA

South Korea on Thursday pledged $1.5 million in financial aid to support Palestinians in the current humanitarian crisis following the deadly airstrikes by Israeli forces on the Gaza Strip, local media reported.

The fund will be used to help victims of the 11-day Israeli strikes on Arab civilians that started on May 10 and ended last week with an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire between Palestinian resistance groups and Tel Aviv.

The country's Foreign Ministry in a statement said the government planned to offer $1 million to support activities of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and $500,000 to a country-based pooled fund operated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, according to Yonhap News Agency.

"The government expects that our support will help Palestinians overcome the humanitarian crisis," said the ministry.

"It will closely cooperate with the international community to contribute to enhancing the humanitarian situation," it added.

At least 254 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children and 39 women, and more than 1,900 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, according to Palestinian medics.

The violence erupted against the backdrop of tension over an Israeli court ruling to evict Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem and police assaults on worshippers inside the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid

ANKARA

"The government expects that our support will help Palestinians overcome the humanitarian crisis," said the ministry.

"It will closely cooperate with the international community to contribute to enhancing the humanitarian situation," it added.

At least 254 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children and 39 women, and more than 1,900 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, according to Palestinian medics.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid