Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. is asking the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the possibility of using the ASEAN Response Fund to help the Palestinians address the reported spread of coronavirus cases in Gaza.
Locsin raised this question in reaction to a media report that coronavirus cases seem to be on the rise in Gaza especially among the nearly 80,000 Palestinians who were displaced by the 11-day bombardment of Israel.
“@ASEAN Can the ASEAN RESPONSE FUND help? They are our Muslim brothers and sisters. Our member states are doing well without the FUND,” Locsin said in a tweet.
The ASEAN Response Fund is a special fund created in April 2020 to bolster the regional bloc's COVID-19 pandemic response and help finance the procurement of necessary medical supplies and the development of vaccines.
In January this year, the Philippine government has pledged USD100,000 (roughly PHP4.8 million) to the ASEAN Response Fund. This pledge is on top of the USD100,000 Philippine contribution to the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility.
Last week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has also raised concerns about the transmission of COVID-19 between vulnerable people who huddled in crowded shelters and the healthcare system’s inability to cope.
According to OCHA, the violence has displaced over 77,000 Palestinians who were seeking protection in 58 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees centers, schools, including in 23 designated emergency shelters.
After an Egypt-brokered ceasefire took effect on May 21, 2021, most of the displaced Palestinians have returned home except for about 1,000 people whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged still remain in the UNRWA centers, OCHA said in a statement.