JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s leading supporters of global humanitarian aid and development, according to data released by the UN.

In a press statement issued to the Saudi Press Agency, Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief), said the Kingdom has provided the Palestinian with aid worth $6 billion in different categories during the last 18 years.

The Kingdom continues to support the Palestinians through various UN agencies, the Saudi National Committee for the Relief of the Palestinian People and international non-governmental organizations.

However, for the past three years most of the Kingdom’s international humanitarian aid programs and initiatives in Palestine and elsewhere have been carried out through the KSRelief.

Al-Rabeeah said the most important development assistance provided by the Kingdom was worth $263.17 million to construct and renovate housing units in Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, including Ain Al-Hilweh and Nahr Al-Bared camps.

The Kingdom funded a $107 million housing project in Rafah (Phase I), implemented through UNRWA, for the construction of an integrated residential city, including 752 housing units for 4,564 people, four schools, a health center, a cultural center, a mall, a mosque, paved roads, street lights and water supply facilities.

Phase II of the same Rafah project included 765 housing units for 4,761 people, two schools, a mosque, and electricity and water supply infrastructure. Two additional projects to provide water and electricity networks and roads were also undertaken at the Ain Al Hilweh and Nahr Al Bared camps.



