Saudi Arabia pledges $50 mln aid for Palestinian refugees

Saudi Arabia pledged $50 million aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which has been hit by the withdrawal of all US funding, Al-Arabiya reported on Wednesday.

The announcement was made at a news conference in Riyadh by Abdullah al-Rabeea, the director of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.

“The agency had succeeded in containing spending following the decision by the administration of President Donald Trump in August to end all funding,” Pierre Krahenbuhl, UNRWA commissioner general, said during the conference.

“The United States had been by far the biggest contributor to the UNRWA for Palestine refugees and the move dealt a massive blow to its already stretched finances,” Krahenbuhl further said.