Croatia to provide €1m humanitarian aid to Gaza: minister

The Croatian government will provide one million euros (1.17 million U.S. dollars) this year in additional humanitarian aid to the civilian population of Gaza suffering from hunger, Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlic Radman said on Thursday,reported Xinhua. The aid will be provided through the World Food Programme (WFP), the leading humanitarian organization in the fight against hunger and food insecurity on a global scale, Radman said. He said this decision was made in light of the deterioration of the humanitarian situation and the confirmation of the famine in Gaza. Since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza, Croatia has sent 2.75 million euros in humanitarian aid to the civilian population in Gaza, he added. Croatia's move followed the visit of Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian on Wednesday, when Croatian President Zoran Milanovic and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic met with her separately. According to a joint UN assessment released on Aug. 22, more than half a million people in Gaza are facing famine conditions marked by starvation and preventable deaths.