The Weeknd to donate four million emergency meals to Gaza

The Weeknd will be donating four million emergency meals to Gaza through his XO Humanitarian Fund.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Friday that The Weeknd, who is a WFP Goodwill Ambassador, has allocated $2.5 million (£1.9 million) of his Humanitarian Fund to support its response in Gaza amid the ongoing conflict.

According to the organisation, the donation provided by the musician, real name Abel Tesfaye, will fund the delivery of 820 metric tonnes (around 1.8 million pounds) of food parcels, which could feed more than 173,000 Palestinians for two weeks.

“This conflict has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe beyond reckoning. WFP is working round the clock to provide aid in Gaza but a major scale-up is needed to address the desperate level of hunger we are seeing,” WFP’s Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe Region, Corinne Fleischer, said in a statement.

“Our teams need safe and sustained humanitarian access, and continued support from donors to reach as many people as we can,” Fleischer continued. “We thank Abel for this valuable contribution towards the people of Palestine. We hope others will follow Abel’s example and support our efforts.”

“Our teams need safe and sustained humanitarian access, and continued support from donors to reach as many people as we can,” Fleischer continued. “We thank Abel for this valuable contribution towards the people of Palestine. We hope others will follow Abel’s example and support our efforts.”

Tesfaye was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador in October 2021. Since his appointment, he has actively supported the WFP’s global hunger-relief mission with $1.8 million (£1.4 million) in personal donations as well as through the XO Humanitarian Fund, which has raised $5 million (£3.9 million) to date.