The Weeknd. Photo by Sebastien Nogier/Pool via Getty Images.
Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) has directed $2.5 million from his XO Humanitarian Fund toward World Food Programme’s initiative to fight hunger in Gaza. According to a press release, this amount will translate to four million emergency meals, enough to feed 173,000 Palestinians for two weeks.
Nearly two months after a surprise attack by Hamas militants on Israel provoked a disproportionate, ongoing counterattack and blockade by the Israeli Defense Force, more than a million Gazans are “on the verge of starvation,” per WFP. This number excludes the 15,000 Gazans who have already lost their lives, according to the Palestinian Military of Health’s latest estimate. (The IDF estimates that 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas on October 7.)
A weeklong ceasefire between the IDF and Hamas, during which Hamas released 10 of its roughly 240 Israeli hostages per day in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners held by the Israeli government, ended today with Israel resuming its airstrikes on the Gaza strip. Each side blamed the other for the collapse of peace talks that would have further extended the pause in fighting.
