RIYADH: Ahmed bin Ali Al-Baiz, assistant supervisor-general for operations and programs at Saudi aid agency KSrelief, recently met with Japanese Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Tsukasa Uemura at the agency’s headquarters in Riyadh. During the meeting, both sides discussed topics of mutual interest relating to humanitarian and relief affairs. Al-Baiz reviewed the efforts provided by the Kingdom through KSrelief to the Palestinian people in Gaza. HIGH LIGHT So far, 44 relief flights have carried supplies weighing over 829 tonnes, including medical items, food, and shelter materials, for the Palestinian people in Gaza. Additionally, 20 ambulances containing essential medical equipment have also been delivered. A fundraising campaign has been in place through the Sahem platform since the crisis began. Launched on Nov. 2, it has raised almost SR678 million ($181 million) and, by Monday, around 1.8 million people had donated. Contributions can be made through Sahem’s website at sahem.ksrelief.org. Donors can also transfer funds directly to the campaign’s Al-Rajhi bank account or by downloading the Sahem app from the App Store or Google Play. Al-Baiz said that, so far, 44 relief flights had carried supplies weighing over 829 tonnes that included medical items, food, and shelter materials. Some 20 ambulances containing essential medical equipment have also been delivered. Furthermore, he added, a maritime bridge has been established with six relief ships carrying medical, shelter and food supplies weighing 4,966 tonnes. This brings the total relief delivered through both air and sea bridges to over 5,795 tonnes. He also noted that KSrelief had signed four cooperation agreements to provide relief to Palestinian people in Gaza — with the UN Relief and Works Agency, the World Health Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Food Programme — with a total value of SR150 million. Additionally, another memorandum was signed with UNRWA providing financial support of $40 million to support its emergency appeal in Gaza, Al-Baiz added. Since its inception in 2015, KSrelief has implemented 2,673 projects worth more than $6.5 billion in 98 countries, in cooperation with 175 local, regional and international partners. The bulk of the support has gone to Yemen ($4.3 billion), Syria ($391 million), Palestine ($370 million) and Somalia ($227 million). KSrelief’s programs cover food security, health, sanitation, shelter, nutrition, education, telecommunications and logistics.