The government of Canada has allocated more than $2 million to assist food-insecure Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, the World Food Program said in a press release on Thursday
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th May, 2019) The government of Canada has allocated more than $2 million to assist food-insecure Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, the World Food Program said in a press release on Thursday."The Government of Canada has provided the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) with a contribution of CAD$3.2 million (approximately US$2.4 million) to support 128,000 vulnerable Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank," the release said.
Some 91,000 non-refugees in Gaza will be given electronic vouchers that can be used to purchase food in 83 designated shops for around one and a half months, while about 37,000 Bedouin and herders in the West Bank will receive food rations that will cover their needs for three months, the release said.
The WFP will use part of the allocation to launch nutrition and health awareness classes that will instruct people how to prepare vitamin-rich meals with the food entitlements.
The WFP has been assisting Palestinian communities since 2011 and had allocated more than $210 million. The UN food program aims to provide aid to 360,000 food-insecure people in Gaza and the West Bank under its four-year assistance plan in Palestine.
Half of the population in Gaza has been affected by poverty and unemployment after years of a deteriorating humanitarian situation including an energy crisis and salary cuts, amid escalations in the region, according to the WFP.
Relations between Israel and Palestine have been tense for decades. Palestinians seek diplomatic recognition for an independent Palestinian state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, along with Gaza. The Israeli government refuses to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity, and continues to build Israeli settlements in areas it occupies, despite objections from the United Nations.
