GEORGE TOWN, April 5 — The government has expressed its readiness to provide additional assistance for humanitarian missions to the Palestinian people after Israel allowed the delivery of aid through border crossings with the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said additional assistance for Palestine could be provided because the government still has the necessary allocation.
"(Is there additional assistance) InsyaAllah, we will assist because we still have allocation; there is a queue of hundreds of lorries (for assistance), so let us clear that first, (so that) the distribution (of aid) is more organised,” he said.
Anwar was speaking to the press today after performing Friday prayers with 2,000 congregants at Masjid Sungai Ara Al-Huda in Bayan Lepas.
Today, it was reported that the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that they will allow the delivery of 'temporary aid’ through its border with the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
Elaborating, Anwar said the humanitarian aid mission from Malaysia is currently on standby at the Rafah border.
"(The total value of Malaysian aid available), I cannot remember, but three or four times already. I asked (Egyptian) President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi twice, and two weeks ago, he helped expedite it. The third time, it arrived, but now what is on standby is still there,” he said.
Earlier, Anwar and the other congregants listened to the sermon by Penang Fatwa committee member Associate Professor Mohd Sukki Othman before performing Friday prayers led by the mosque's Imam Syaraafat Yaacob.
After prayers, the Prime Minister spent some time to greet and mingle with the congregants.
He is scheduled to attend the Penang development briefing at Komtar here before heading to the Madani Bubur Lambuk programme at Masjid Kubang Semang in Bukit Mertajam, conducting a walkabout at the Seberang Jaya Public Market Ramadan Bazaar and attending the state-level Madani breaking of fast event at UiTM Penang during his visit to the state today.
— Bernama
