The Japanese government signed today, Thursday, a financial aid agreement worth $2.5 million to support the World Food Program in Palestine, to provide assistance to poor and marginalized families and achieve food security for them.

The signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Social Development headquarters in Ramallah, in the presence of Minister Samah Hamad, Japanese Ambassador to the State of Palestine Yuichi Nakashima, and WFP Country Director Antoine Renard.

Hamad said that the ministry seeks with all Arab and international partners to urge them to contribute to increasing and diversifying the aid provided to our people, especially to our people in the Gaza Strip, to include all the necessary basic materials, and to purchase them from the Palestinian market in the West Bank to stimulate the Palestinian economy in light of the worsening crisis it is suffering as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem.

She continued: We look forward to more cooperation and support from the Japanese government, especially increasing Japan's contribution to supporting the World Food Programme, which contributes to achieving food security for more Palestinian families suffering from food insecurity as a result of the difficult circumstances our people are experiencing, and doubling efforts to provide greater assistance to cover emergency humanitarian and relief needs, distributing aid in all areas, and ensuring its diversity to include health care materials and personal hygiene supplies, especially for women and children.

Hamad expressed her thanks to the Japanese government and the friendly Japanese people for supporting the State of Palestine in all fields, and for the great role and continuous support of the World Food Program, which enhances the steadfastness of the Palestinian citizen.

In turn, Nakashima said: The Japanese government will continue to support the Palestinian government and the World Food Program to mitigate the repercussions of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, which affected the food security of Palestinian families in the Strip.

He stressed that his people's government supports the efforts of the Palestinian government towards survival and the establishment of the State of Palestine.

For his part, the Director of the World Food Programme thanked the Japanese government for its continued support, which contributes to achieving food security for Palestinian families, praising the role of the Ministry of Social Development and its efforts in mobilizing support from partners to achieve the programme’s goals.