Saudi Donations to Gaza Exceed $100 Million

Trucks with Saudi aid to the Palestinian people (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Trucks with Saudi aid to the Palestinian people (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Donations to Gaza Exceed $100 Million

Trucks with Saudi aid to the Palestinian people (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Trucks with Saudi aid to the Palestinian people (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi donations to the National Campaign to support the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip via the "Sahem" portal exceeded $102 million on its fifth day since its launch.

On Thursday, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman issued directives to launch a fundraising campaign on Sahem affiliated with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) to aid the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

Conditions are worsening in the Gaza Strip under Israeli strikes. The Palestinians need support amid lack of adequate food, shelter, clean water or medicine.

More than half a million donors provided direct financial support to alleviate the suffering in Gaza and contribute to providing the people with the necessities of life.

On Oct. 15, the Saudi Ambassador to Jordan, Nayef bin Bandar al-Sudairi, presented a check for the annual contribution of $2 million from Saudi Arabia to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The contribution will allow the UNRWA to continue providing vital relief services such as food, medicine, and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini lauded the Kingdom for its ongoing support. He said the Kingdom consistently stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people and supports the agency in achieving its humanitarian goals.

Lazzarini stressed the importance of solidarity and support from the international community.

He urged UN member states and the international community to lend their support to the agency's efforts in assisting the Palestinian people, who are currently facing challenging conditions.

KSrelief embodied the Saudi role in supporting reconstruction and development and providing relief worldwide, making it the most significant supporter and prominent source of relief in the Middle East and various regions.

The center provides assistance to 94 countries worldwide, implementing 2,587 humanitarian and relief projects worth more than $6 billion within just eight years of its launch. It targets vital sectors such as food, education, health, nutrition, water, environmental restoration, and shelter.

Saudi diplomacy is exerting extraordinary momentum to mobilize an Arab, regional, and international position toward stopping Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territories and ensuring the arrival of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Riyadh will host four summits within 48 hours early next week, starting with an emergency Arab League summit to discuss the situation in Gaza, two Saudi and Arab summits with Africa, and a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries on Sunday.

The Kingdom repeatedly called on the international community, represented by the Security Council, to assume its responsibilities and stop the escalation, prevent the forced displacement of Gazans, and find a just and comprehensive political solution to the Palestinian cause.

Meanwhile, senior Humanitarian Affairs at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Abdul Haq al-Amiri, asserted that Saudi Arabia is in constant contact with international relief and humanitarian organizations, maintaining that the Kingdom has no political or ethnic purposes.

Saudi support and relief programs are established through many official platforms that the government founded years ago, including the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.

The Kingdom focused on rationing support and aid, targeting vital and strategic aspects that benefit individuals and governments of affected countries.



Bahrain to Host Gulf Ministerial Meeting to Discuss Regional Developments

The 167th Ministerial Council meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will be held in Bahrain on Wednesday. (AFP)
The 167th Ministerial Council meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will be held in Bahrain on Wednesday. (AFP)
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Bahrain to Host Gulf Ministerial Meeting to Discuss Regional Developments

The 167th Ministerial Council meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will be held in Bahrain on Wednesday. (AFP)
The 167th Ministerial Council meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will be held in Bahrain on Wednesday. (AFP)

Bahrain is hosting on Wednesday the 167th Ministerial Council meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to discuss regional and international developments.

It will be held under the chairmanship of Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and current President of the Ministerial Council Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, with the participation of GCC foreign ministers.

The third joint ministerial meeting of the GCC-Canada Strategic Dialogue will also be held on the sidelines. Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand is expected to attend.

GCC Secretary-General Jasem Albudaiwi said the ministerial council will review reports on the implementation of decisions issued by the GCC Supreme Council's 46th summit, held in Manama in December 2025.

The council will discuss memoranda and reports submitted by ministerial and technical committees and the General Secretariat, as well as matters related to strategic dialogues and relations between GCC member states and international countries and blocs.

Albudaiwi said the third joint GCC-Canada Strategic Dialogue Ministerial Meeting will tackle several issues, including ways to deepen cooperation between the GCC and Canada through the Joint Action Plan for 2025-2029.

The plan outlines priorities and mechanisms to strengthen cooperation in political and security affairs, trade and investment, energy, education, health, and other vital fields.


Saudi Arabia, Yemen Sign $150 Mn Petroleum Supply Deal to Support Energy Sector, Power Plants

Tuesday's agreement was signed by Minister of Electricity and Energy Eng. Adnan Al-Kaf and Saudi Ambassador to Yemen and SDRPY General Supervisor Mohammed bin Saeed Al Jaber. (SPA)
Tuesday's agreement was signed by Minister of Electricity and Energy Eng. Adnan Al-Kaf and Saudi Ambassador to Yemen and SDRPY General Supervisor Mohammed bin Saeed Al Jaber. (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia, Yemen Sign $150 Mn Petroleum Supply Deal to Support Energy Sector, Power Plants

Tuesday's agreement was signed by Minister of Electricity and Energy Eng. Adnan Al-Kaf and Saudi Ambassador to Yemen and SDRPY General Supervisor Mohammed bin Saeed Al Jaber. (SPA)
Tuesday's agreement was signed by Minister of Electricity and Energy Eng. Adnan Al-Kaf and Saudi Ambassador to Yemen and SDRPY General Supervisor Mohammed bin Saeed Al Jaber. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia and Yemen signed on Tuesday an agreement worth $150 million to supply petroleum derivatives for power plants across various Yemeni governorates.

The agreement was signed under the patronage of Yemeni Prime Minister Dr. Shaya Mohsin Zindani and is part of Saudi Arabia’s support through the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY) to the Yemeni Ministry of Electricity and Energy, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

It was signed by Minister of Electricity and Energy Eng. Adnan Al-Kaf and Saudi Ambassador to Yemen and SDRPY General Supervisor Mohammed bin Saeed Al Jaber.

The petroleum derivatives support, consisting of diesel and mazut, will fuel more than 70 electricity generation plants across various Yemeni governorates, helping boost the stability and continuity of electricity services and support vital sectors linked to electrical energy.

The support reflects Saudi Arabia’s longstanding commitment to supporting the Yemeni people and alleviating their humanitarian suffering, particularly amid rising temperatures.

It is expected to contribute to stimulating commercial activity, creating job opportunities, and promoting economic growth in Yemen.

An additional agreement was also signed between the Yemeni oil company PetroMasila, the Yemeni Ministry of Electricity and Energy, and SDRPY to support the sustainability of PetroMasila’s operations as a state-owned company, strengthening its capabilities, improving operational efficiency, and ensuring continuity of services in support of the Yemeni government.

The initiative will be implemented under a comprehensive governance framework to ensure that assistance reaches the final beneficiaries, through a supreme committee linked to the prime minister and comprising several Yemeni entities responsible for overseeing and monitoring the distribution of petroleum derivatives to power plants based on the identified needs of electricity generation facilities across Yemen.

SDRPY provided petroleum derivatives grants in 2018 valued at $180 million, one in 2021 worth $422 million, another in 2022 amounting to $200 million, and one in 2026 valued at $81.2 million.

The current $150 million grant comes as searing summer temperatures approach and amid an urgent need to improve electricity service quality to better daily life and living standards for the Yemeni people.


OIC Condemns Israel’s Withholding of Palestinian Tax Revenues

 Israeli military excavators demolish a Palestinian building in the town of Jabaa in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 3, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli military excavators demolish a Palestinian building in the town of Jabaa in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 3, 2026. (Reuters)
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OIC Condemns Israel’s Withholding of Palestinian Tax Revenues

 Israeli military excavators demolish a Palestinian building in the town of Jabaa in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 3, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli military excavators demolish a Palestinian building in the town of Jabaa in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, near Jerusalem June 3, 2026. (Reuters)

The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) strongly condemned on Tuesday the Israeli Knesset’s approval of a “racist” bill to expand mechanisms for confiscating Palestinian tax revenues, in “flagrant violation of international law and existing bilateral agreements”.

It warned of the “gravity of this illegal measure, which constitutes an assault on the rights of the Palestinian people and their financial resources.”

The move will “exacerbate the deteriorating humanitarian and economic conditions in the Palestinian Territories,” it added.

The General Secretariat renewed its call on the international community “to shoulder its responsibilities by pressuring the Israeli authorities to stop this official piracy and to immediately and unconditionally release all Palestinian tax revenues being illegally withheld.”