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Islamic Development Bank to donate $33m for Palestine projects

January 13, 2022 at 2:14 pm

A Palestinian boy carries a bag of food aid in Gaza on 26 May 2021 [SAID KHATIB/AFP/Getty Images]

The Islamic Development Bank is to donate $33 million to support projects in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as Jerusalem, reported Wafa news agency.

The funds will be spent on local government, agriculture, civil society, health sector and in other fields.

Palestinian Authority (PA) Minister of Local Government, Magdi Al-Saleh, and the advisor of the Islamic Bank in the West Bank and Jerusalem, Ikhlas Al-Ratrout, signed the agreement, which consisted of four parts in Ramallah, during which PA Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, was also in attendance along with Hebron Mayor, Taysir Abu Sneina.

One part of the agreement is to support infrastructure projects for local government bodies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, at a value of about $26 million, while another $3.5 million is to improve infrastructure projects in the refugee camps.

A third agreement, worth $2 million for the implementation of a project to equip and furnish a maternity hospital in the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City was also signed.

READ: Only 50 homes destroyed in Israel’s 2021 attack on Gaza rebuilt, others remain in ruins

Additionally, the fourth agreement, at a value of a million dollars, will consist of restoring, rehabilitating and maintaining buildings in the Old City of Hebron, which was signed by Hebron Mayor, Taysir Abu Sneina, with a representative of the Islamic Development Bank.

According to Wafa news agency, Shtayyeh praised the Islamic Development Bank for its fund during the signing ceremony, which he said will enhance the steadfastness of Palestinian people in all governorates.

“What distinguishes these projects is that their funds are allocated from Arab funds,” he said.” I hope the authorities that will implement the projects will accelerate their implementation to the fullest.”

He added that a package of projects funded by the Arab Fund in Kuwait will also be announced soon.

In a region rife with conflicts, and now battling the health and socio-economic impacts of Covid-19, such funds are vital for some degree of regional stability.