UK Minister Dodds pledges £19m. in humanitarian aid for Gaza during regional visit

UK International Development Minister Anneliese Dodds is set to announce an additional £19 million in funding, including £12 million for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Program (WFP), the British Embassy in Israel announced on Monday. 

Dodds is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories to strengthen the UK’s humanitarian support for the Gaza Strip, the British Embassy noted, adding that she will attend a humanitarian conference in Cairo on Wednesday with international partners to discuss ways to help Gaza.

This brings the UK’s total support for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in 2024 to 99 million pounds, benefiting over half a million people in Gaza with healthcare and 284,000 with clean water and sanitation, the announcement noted.

Moreover, Dodds is planning to visit a refugee camp in the West Bank, where she would announce £7 million in new funding for UNRWA’s appeal for the Gaza Strip. The funding will provide food, shelter, and healthcare, especially as winter conditions worsen, the British Embassy noted.

"The situation in Gaza is catastrophic," Dodds emphasized in the announcement, adding that "Gazans​ are in desperate need of food and shelter with the onset of winter." She further emphasized that the conference in Cairo aims to give "leading voices" a platform in which they may "put forward real-world solutions to the humanitarian crisis."

She also confirmed the UK’s continued support for Palestinian Authority reforms and called for better access to aid, saying, "The UK is committed to supporting the region’s most vulnerable communities, pledging additional funding for UNRWA, and to supporting the Palestinian Authority reforms."

Ceasefire and hostage release

The UK has given £6 million each to the WFP and OCHA, which will help provide food, water, and healthcare to Palestinians. This funding will allow the WFP to buy 4,465 metric tons of wheat flour to feed over 451,000 people in Gaza for a month.

Dodds will also visit a community in the West Bank at risk of demolition and settler violence before heading to Israel, according to the embassy. There, she will reportedly meet Israeli officials to discuss aid access and long-term solutions to the conflict. She will also meet the families of UK and UK-linked hostages, reaffirming the UK’s efforts to bring them home.

Dodds also emphasized the need for a ceasefire, calling Israel to "immediately act to ensure unimpeded aid access to Gaza…bring about a ceasefire, free the hostages, and find a lasting solution to the conflict."