International assistance - news

Aid plan to the occupied Palestinian territory: Donors - Europeans first - say they want to avert a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory (see BBC article). The EU and US cut off funding after Hamas came to power earlier this year. Their focus for funding would be on local health services and provision of basic needs to poor Palestinians (not through the Hamas led government though).

In another move, the United Nations agency that provides relief for the Palestinians, UNRWA, began distributing emergency food aid to an additional 90,000 Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA now provides food aid for 725,000 Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip alone.