The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, serves as the UN World Food Programme (WFP) Goodwill Ambassador. He is set to donate $2.5 million to the Gaza Strip in response to acute food shortages resulting from ongoing hostilities.
As announced by WFP USA, the donation, equivalent to four million emergency meals, will be managed through his XO Humanitarian Fund. Corinne Fleischer, the director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe region of the humanitarian organization, emphasized in a statement the critical need for aid and the growing hunger in Gaza. Fleischer said, ‘This conflict has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe beyond reckoning.’ ‘The WFP is delivering aid in Gaza around the clock, but a significant scale-up is required to address the extreme level of hunger we are witnessing.’
To reach as many people as possible, the director stated, ‘Our teams need safe and sustained humanitarian access, as well as ongoing support from donors.’ For this important service to the people of Palestine, we are grateful to Abel. We hope more people will support our efforts, following Abel’s example. Since October 2021, The Weeknd has actively supported the World Food Program’s global hunger relief efforts as a Goodwill Ambassador. Contributions from the XO Humanitarian Fund, in partnership with World Food Program USA, along with his gifts, totaling US$1.8 million, have grown to US$5 million.
The initial $2.5 million from the fund has been earmarked to provide emergency food assistance to women and children in Ethiopia, while the second portion is designated for the Gaza response. In 2024, the singer committed to contributing the equivalent of $1 from each concert ticket sold during his After Hours ’til Dawn stadium tour to the XO Humanitarian Fund. Following the collapse of a truce in the nearly two-month-old conflict between Israel and Hamas, Israeli warplanes and artillery targeted the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, striking mosques, residences, and near a hospital.
Citizens were concerned that the bombardments signaled the potential initiation of an Israeli ground incursion in the southern part of Palestinian territory. This operation could confine them to a diminishing area and might even attempt to force them into neighboring Egypt. The Gaza health ministry reported a toll of at least 193 Palestinians killed and 650 injured since the ceasefire concluded on Friday morning. These casualties contribute to the grim total of over 15,000 Palestinians who have lost their lives since the onset of the conflict.
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 Goodwill Ambassador. He is set to donate $2.5 million to the Gaza Strip in response to acute food shortages resulting from ongoing hostilities.){kind=link}