‘I’m horrified…': Nobel winner Malala Yousafzai donates $300k to Palestinians

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai on Wednesday announced that she is donating $3,00,000 (around ₹2.5 crore) to three charities helping the Palestinians.

Yousafzai said she was horrified to see the bombing of a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday in which nearly 500 people were killed and added that collective punishment was not the answer. Follow Israel-Palestine war LIVE updates here.

"I'm horrified to see the bombing of al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza and unequivocally condemn it," Yousafzai said in a video message. “I urge the Israeli government to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and reiterate the call for a ceasefire. I am directing $300K to three charities helping Palestinian people under attack.”

At least 500 people were killed in a strike on Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab Hospital, often called the Baptist Hospital, on Tuesday night. Palestinian officials blamed the explosion on one of the many Israeli bombs dropped on Gaza since it announced war against Hamas.

Israel denied any role behind the strike and claimed that the blast was caused by a misfired rocket shot by Islamic Jihad towards their country. The United States has also backed Israel's claim saying that intelligence shows that Tel Aviv was not to blame for the strike.

"The Zionist enemy is trying hard to evade its responsibility for the brutal massacre he committed by bombing the Baptist Arab National Hospital in Gaza through his usual fabrication of lies, and through pointing the finger of blame at the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine," it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Islamic Jihad is the second-largest armed group in Gaza. It was founded in the 1980s in the Gaza Strip to fight the Israeli occupation. Islamic Jihad sometimes operates independently of Hamas. However, according to media reports, both allegedly receive funding and weapons from Iran.

Israel has put the Gaza Strip under a total blockade and has pounded it with air strikes since Hamas attacked its border towns in an unprecedented surprise attack on October 7, killing around 1400 people.

Over 2,500 Palestinians have died in the retaliatory action by Tel Aviv. Israel has put the Gaza Strip under a total blockade and has warned all those in the region to evacuate before an expected ground offensive. Concerns have been mounting globally about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Gaza Strip and fears that the war could metastasize into a broader regional conflict.

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