The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Oman Charitable Organization (OCO), has so far donated more than $31 million in the form of aid, as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a partner of the World Health Organization (WHO), announced that the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza Strip, according to the report published by the OCO.
The OCO is in direct and continuous coordination with the relevant authorities inside the Gaza Strip and the organisation has had an office and staff inside the Strip that has been overseeing its projects for more than 15 years, in addition to another office in West Bank.
“We have been coordinating with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and in cooperation with the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in Cairo, Egyptian Red Crescent Society and Jordanian Red Crescent Society, we ensure the receipt and distribution of aid according to clear mechanisms and field and administrative understandings that guarantee integrity and fairness, with full documentation of all stages”, said Badr bin Mohammed al Zaabi, Acting CEO of OCO.
Besides, the authority conducts regular weekly follow-ups with relevant partners, confirming that its relief and medical stocks are fully prepared for immediate action whenever the opening of the crossings is announced.
Meanwhile, relief supplies involving 126 pallets of food from six countries were dropped over the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said on social media.
Germany, Spain, France, Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates participated in the coordinated action, the post said.
German aircraft dropped 34 pallets containing nearly 14 tonnes of food and medical equipment over the blockaded coastal area on the Mediterranean, according to the German Defence Ministry in Berlin.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said airdrops are at least 100 times more expensive than transporting the same amount of goods by land.
Earlier, Hamas said that it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established — a fresh rebuke to a key Israeli demand to end the war in Gaza.
Last Tuesday, Qatar and Egypt, who are mediating ceasefire efforts, endorsed a declaration by France and Saudi Arabia outlining steps towards a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and saying that as part of this Hamas must hand over its arms to the Palestinian Authority.
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