On December 3, 2023, Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani announced an initiative aimed at sponsoring 3,000 orphans and providing medical care for 1,500 injured Palestinians from Gaza.
Canada is contributing CAD $500,000 (QAR 13,37,422) to support the Qatar Red Crescent’s (QRCS) efforts to provide psychosocial support for Palestinians evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Doha.
Canada’s Ambassador to Qatar, Isabelle Martin, announced the contribution in a press conference on Sunday at the QRCS’s headquarters.
“Canada is proud to stand alongside Qatar in this endeavour. Together, we reaffirm our commitment to humanitarian principles and to those displaced by the war in Gaza, who deserve peace, security, and a future filled with opportunity,” Martin said.
The six-month initiative is a collaborative effort between QRCS and the Canadian Red Cross under the patronage of Qatar and Canada’s foreign ministries.
Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, Mariam Al-Misnad, said the Canadian contribution aligns with the Gulf state’s “humanitarian priorities”.
“Their generous contribution aligns with Qatar’s humanitarian priorities and reflects our belief in the shared legacy of values, principles, and ideals enshrined in all divine religions and established in relevant international treaties and conventions,” she said in a statement, as quoted by QRCS.
On December 3, 2023, Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani announced an initiative aimed at sponsoring 3,000 orphans and providing medical care for 1,500 injured Palestinians from Gaza.
Since its launch, Qatar has evacuated more than 500 wounded people, along with more than 800 of their companions and 700 others with special cases. The evacuations took place before Israel invaded and destroyed the Gaza-Egypt Rafah Crossing on May 6.
The evacuees have since been residing in the Al-Thumama Complex, where they have been receiving adequate care by Qatari authorities.
QRCS Secretary-General, Faisal Al-Emadi, said the agreement with Canada would offer “community-based mental health and psychosocial support”.
It also falls under the framework of the memorandum of understanding on development cooperation, which Qatar and Canada signed during the visit of the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Ottawa last September.
“This support is not only political or diplomatic, but also primarily humanitarian, with Qatar Fund for Development providing every possible form of aid, in cooperation with the Qatari and international humanitarian organisations involved in relief efforts for the affected people of Gaza,” Al-Emadi said.
Meanwhile, last year, Qatar and the United Kingdom joined efforts to provide Palestinians evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Doha with comprehensive care.
The UK had made an initial financial contribution to the project of £140,000 (around QAR 647,200), aimed at funding training by British medical training agency, David Nott Foundation, to 50 doctors and practitioners.
