The State Trading Organization (STO) Group of companies has donated MVR 1 million (equivalent to almost US$65,000) to the ‘We are with Palestine’ telethon, set up to provide relief aid to the Palestinian people to alleviate their suffering under decades of brutal oppression by the state of Israel and ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza and occupied Palestinian territories. The funds were donated on behalf of employees and shareholders, STO said in a statement.
STO, Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO), Allied Insurance, Maldives Gas, Maldives State Shipping (MSS), and Fuel Supply Maldives (FSM) all contributed to the MVR 1 million donation.
“Maldivians have always stood by the Palestinian people and advocated for Palestinian independence,” STO said in the statement. The statement went on to condemn Israel’s continued “vile actions against the defenceless population in Gaza on the day Maldives was commemorating the occasion of embracing Islam.”
Israel has continued its blockade of food, water, and electricity for five days, while unrelentingly targeting Gaza with heavy attacks over the past 11 days. More than 3,000 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed so far, and the death toll continues to rise daily.
Israel has also targeted journalists, aid supplies, relief efforts, bomb shelters, and hospitals. Observers say Israel is continually attempting, and largely succeeding, to browbeat Western and other world governments to be complicit in their war crimes against the Palestinian people.