The Weeknd donates $2.5m to Gaza for emergency meals

UN World Food Programme (WFP) Goodwill Ambassador The Weeknd, known by his real name Abel Tesfaye, is set to contribute $2.5 million to the Gaza Strip amid severe food shortages resulting from the ongoing conflict. The donation, equivalent to four million emergency meals, will be administered through his XO Humanitarian Fund, as announced by WFP USA.

A statement penned by the humanitarian organisation’s director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe Region Corinne Fleischer stressed the intensifying hunger in Gaza and the urgent need for assistance. “This conflict has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe beyond reckoning,” began Fleischer. “WFP is working round the clock to provide aid in Gaza but a major scale-up is needed to address the desperate level of hunger we are seeing.”

The director furthered on, “Our teams need safe and sustained humanitarian access, and continued support from donors to reach as many people as we can. We thank Abel for this valuable contribution towards the people of Palestine. We hope others will follow Abel’s example and support our efforts.”

The Weeknd assumed the role of Goodwill Ambassador in October 2021 and has been actively championing the global hunger-relief mission of the WFP. His personal donations, totaling US$1.8 million, along with contributions from the XO Humanitarian Fund—a collaborative effort with World Food Program USA—have reached US$5 million.

The fund has allocated an initial US$2.5 million to provide emergency food assistance for women and children in Ethiopia, with the second tranche earmarked for the Gaza response. In 2024, the singer has pledged to allocate the equivalent of US$1 from every concert ticket sold during his After Hours 'til Dawn stadium tour to the XO Humanitarian Fund.

On Saturday, Israeli war planes and artillery bombarded the south of the Gaza Strip, hitting mosques, homes and close to a hospital, after the collapse of a truce in the nearly two-month-old war between Israel and Hamas.

Residents feared the barrages were a prelude to an Israeli ground operation in the south of the Palestinian territory which would bottle them up in a shrinking area and possibly try to push them into neighbouring Egypt.

The Gaza health ministry said at least 193 Palestinians had been killed and 650 wounded since the truce ended on Friday morning - adding to the more than 15,000 Palestinian dead since the start of the war.

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