Riyadh: In response to a fundraising call from King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, hundreds of people rushed with donations of whatever they had to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians, who are facing brutal Israeli aggression and a crippling blockade in the Gaza Strip.
There has been huge response from both Saudi citizens as well as expatriates for the campaign, which kicked off yesterday in almost all cities in the kingdom.
The campaign is being held under the supervision of Interior Minister Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, who is also Head of the Saudi Committee for the Relief of the Palestinian People.
King Abdullah had earlier ordered a shipment of medical supplies to Gaza as well as air ambulances to transport the injured Palestinians to specialist Saudi hospitals for treatment.
Nine injured Palestinians arrived in the kingdom on board an air ambulance on Thursday night.
On Friday King Abdullah visited two seriously wounded Palestinians who had been admitted to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. Also on Friday, the fifth consignment of Saudi medical aid was dispatched to the Palestinian Red Crescent at the Rafah crossing.
Inappropriate
Immediately after the campaign kicked off yesterday morning, Gulf News saw several trucks unloading relief supplies at the Prince Faisal Bin Fahd Stadium in Riyadh's Malaz district, the main venue for collecting donations.
The truckloads of relief aid consisted of various foodstuff, cartons of medicines, blankets and the like. Traffic on the streets leading to the stadium came to a virtual standstill following the heavy rush of trucks and vehicles loaded with donations.
About 30 trucks were seen at the stadium waiting their turn to take the relief supplies to the warehouse of the Saudi Red Crescent Society in Sulei from where they will be dispatched to the Palestinian victims.
During a tour of the stadium, Gulf News noted the huge number of children, who were highly enthusiastic in taking part in the campaign together with their elders.
Two of them - Yousuf and Abdullah Al Obaidan, said that they were very sad to watch children being killed and to also see their homes destroyed.
Meanwhile, noted Saudi preacher Shaikh Ayid Al Qarni called for the 19th Gulf Cup commencing today in Muscat, Oman to be postponed as a show of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. In a press statement, he said it was quite inappropriate at this time to hold such an event.
