Saudi Arabia Concludes 4 Agreements Worth SAR150 Million for Gaza Relief

Dr. Al-Rabeeah signs a joint cooperation agreement with UNRWA. (KSRelief)
Dr. Al-Rabeeah signs a joint cooperation agreement with UNRWA. (KSRelief)
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Saudi Arabia Concludes 4 Agreements Worth SAR150 Million for Gaza Relief

Dr. Al-Rabeeah signs a joint cooperation agreement with UNRWA. (KSRelief)
Dr. Al-Rabeeah signs a joint cooperation agreement with UNRWA. (KSRelief)

The Advisor to the Royal Court and General Supervisor of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief), Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, signed on Thursday four cooperation agreements to provide relief to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, with a total value of SAR 150 million.

The agreements were signed with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Food Program (WFP).

As part of Saudi Arabia’s coordination with Egypt to alleviate the sufferings of the Palestinians in Gaza, KSRelief also signed a joint support memorandum with the Egyptian Red Crescent.

In a statement, Egypt’s minister of Social Solidarity and vice president of the Egyptian Red Crescent Nevine Al-Kabbaj praised the close relationship between her country and Saudi Arabia, and appreciated the efforts made by KSRelief as a “pioneering center in supporting groups affected by crises and disasters and developing partnerships with leading organizations in humanitarian work around the world...”

For his part, Al-Rabeeah thanked Egypt for the efforts made to support the Palestinians.

“The region is witnessing a major crisis, and all humanitarian standards and laws are being violated as a result of what is happening to innocent, defenseless civilians, as children and women are being killed without the slightest guilt,” he said.

He pointed to coordination with the Egyptian Red Crescent and all Egyptian government agencies to facilitate the entry of humanitarian relief aid provided by Saudi Arabia to the Palestinians.

The four agreements include providing life-saving medicines and medical supplies, supporting urgent interventions to save lives, strengthening primary and secondary health care programs, treating malnutrition in children, mothers and the elderly, and supporting mental health, at a value of SAR 37.5 million.

They also provide for supporting the WFP to secure hot meals and food baskets to displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, at a total cost of SAR 18.7 million.

Moreover, the agreements cover financing the activities of the UNRWA in the food, shelter, water and environmental sanitation sectors, including securing medicines and providing doctors and nurses in 97 UNRWA shelter centers in the Gaza Strip, and ensuring the physical and psychological safety of the population and displaced people in Gaza.



Taiwan’s Representative to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Taiwan’s Representative to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Taiwan is investigating who is responsible for modifying the pagers that were turned into explosives in the hands of the Lebanese people, including members of Hezbollah.

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang told Asharq Al-Awsat that 260,000 pagers were exported from his country between 2022 and 2024, and 16 percent of them were sent to the United States and Europe.

He expressed his regret that the pagers were planted with explosives that were used in the attack in Lebanon last month, clarifying that the devices were not directly exported from Taiwan to Lebanon.

He explained that the components of the device are made of material that is not liable to explode.

Apollo Gold, the Taiwanese company that exported the pagers between 2022 and 2024, has never received any complaints that its devices have caused harm or exploded.

The attack in Lebanon has raised several questions and they are being probed by authorities in Taiwan, he went on to say.

One thing is for certain, the devices were not harmful in the shape they were exported from the country, stressed Chang.

Asked about whether the attack may harm Taiwan’s economy, he replied that his country’s industry sector has a strong reputation that will be difficult to undermine given the trust it has from clients.

The size of the sector and Taiwan’s investments cannot be measured by a small number of pagers, as they only make up a mere fraction in the country’s trade relations with countries all over the world, he stressed.

Separately, Chang revealed that Taiwan was considering cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the chip industry, saying he was optimistic over the broad potential for cooperation in the technology sector.

There are no limits to the cooperation between them, he added.

Taiwan constantly wants to maintain the relations and discuss opportunities for joint investments, he stated.

Taiwan was among the first countries to leap to cooperate with Saudi Arabia in all fields to help the Kingdom achieve its Vision 2030 that is spearheaded by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Chang said.