The European Commission decided today to send €28 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinians due to escalating violence.
The decision came the same day Israel killed 12 Palestinians in southern Gaza after back-to-back ambushes claimed the lives of 11 of its soldiers in the worst blow to the Israeli army in two years.
The European Union funds will go towards providing food aid, water sanitation and protection for ambulances in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as well as helping Palestinian refugees in neighbouring Lebanon, the Commission said. Nearly half of Palestinians do not have proper access to food and water.
EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Mr Poul Nielson said lack of water, access to food, basic services and economic opportunities were some of the direct consequences of the violence between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
According to the Commission, about two million people, or some 60 per cent of the West Bank and Gaza Strip population, live below the poverty line on less than two dollars a day. Nearly half of those who are of working age are jobless.
A Commission spokesman said all international donors needed to step up efforts to help the Palestinian people, but added a political solution was needed to alleviate their plight.
"The main problem is not lack of co-ordination among donors or lack of funding or any other technical aspect, but the . . . political statement that remains," he said, referring to the lack of progress in peace talks between the two sides.