The European Union told the World Health Organization’s executive board that it had mobilised €1.7 billion in humanitarian aid for the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 2023, according to an EU statement delivered in Geneva.
The statement was made during the 158th session of the WHO Executive Board under an agenda item on health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, the European External Action Service reported on Monday.
The EU said it spoke on behalf of its 27 member states, and that North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, as well as Iceland and Armenia, aligned themselves with the statement.
It described WHO as playing a role in supporting people in Gaza during the current crisis and said the agency had been scaling up operations since a ceasefire took effect across the Gaza Strip.
Calls for aid access and medical evacuations
Immediate, unimpeded and safe access for humanitarian aid, and sustained distribution “at scale” into and throughout Gaza, was among the requests set out in the statement.
The work of the UN and its agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and international non-governmental organisations needed to be facilitated in line with humanitarian principles, it added.
Medical evacuations of patients from Gaza should be facilitated, including through additional evacuation routes, access to hospitals in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, and the ability for patients to voluntarily return to Gaza, the EU said.
The EU also stated it would continue to support the Palestinian Authority, including in its ongoing reform and with a view to its return to Gaza.
