Jordan's Queen Rania calls for aid to Gaza
Jordanian queen condemns killing of Palestinian children in Gaza, calls on governments to contribute to refugee agency, saying 'Gaza's children are not acceptable collateral damage'
Jordan's Queen Rania, who is of Palestinian origin, appealed Monday for urgent aid for the residents of the Gaza Strip, saying that global humanity is "incomplete" when children become victims of military operations.
Speaking at a joint news conference with UN officials in Amman, she called on governments to contribute to the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA emergency appeal for 34 million dollars (25 million euros) to meet the immediate needs of Gaza's innocent civilians, caught up in Israel's onslaught against Hamas.
Queen Rania donating blood to Gaza victims last week (photo: AFP)
"Gaza's children, the dead and the barely living, their mothers, their fathers are not acceptable collateral damage, their lives do matter and their loss does count," said the queen.
Israel denies that there is a humanitarian crisis in the territory where more than 500 Palestinians, including 87 children, have been killed and more than 2,500 others wounded since Israel unleashed its Operation Cast Lead on December 27.
However, Sigrid Kaag, regional director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), warned that "the humanitarian crisis... is hitting children and women most.
"The children in Gaza are currently being deprived not only of the basic human rights any human being should enjoy, but are also being denied the fundamental rights specific to children..."
