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Denmark sends millions in aid to Gaza

The development ministry on Friday announced an 11 million kroner contribution in emergency aid to help those affected by the "spiral of violence" in Gaza.

Published: 18 July 2014 09:00 CEST

Denmark sends millions in aid to Gaza

Palestinian men help a local journalist injured during an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Oliver Weiken/Scanpix

Denmark’s development ministry on Friday announced an emergency aid package of 11 million kroner ($2 million) to help civilians in Gaza.

The announcement came the morning after Israel instituted a military ground campaign following peace talks in Cairo that failed to reach a breakthrough.

“The spiral of violence between Gaza and Israel has unbearable costs for completely innocent people,” Mogens Jensen, the trade and development minister, said. “As much as half of Gaza’s population is lacking water and hospitals and emergency organizations are lacking medicine to handle the wounded and save lives. I therefore find it essential and appropriate that Denmark contribute to the emergency humanitarian efforts in Gaza.”

The development ministry said that the Danish funds would be split equally between the Red Cross and the UN’s catastrophe fund for Palestine.

The money will go toward ambulances, medicine, psychological help and improving the water supply in Gaza.

Jensen said Denmark’s contributions would also go toward ensuring that humanitarian law is protected in the war-torn area.

“It is appalling that children playing on the beach risk being killed in a war that has nothing to do with them,” he said. “We must demand sustained respect for international humanitarian law lest the civilian casualties rise and emergency workers be barred from access.”

Over 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military campaign and over 1,500 have been injured.

On Thursday in Copenhagen, a demonstration in support of Gaza attracted around 1,000 people for the second day in a row.

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'We'll be struggling well into next year': German borrowing to soar amid pandemic

The seating area of a restaurant closed off in Boltenhagen on the Baltic Sea coast. Photo: DPA

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government plans to borrow €300 billion ($364 billion) across 2020 and 2021 combined after the government pledged more than a trillion euros in aid, including through short-time work schemes (Kurzarbeit) and business support.

“The budget is the basis for everyone to be confident that we can provide the necessary economic and social support to get us through this crisis together,” Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told lawmakers.

The budget for 2021, which passed with 361 votes in favour to 258 against, provides for a total of €179.8 billion in new loans and nearly €500 billion in public spending.

It means for both 2020 and 2021, Germany will abandon its cherished “debt brake”, a constitutionally enshrined rule that forbids the government from borrowing more than 0.35 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), before planning to return to no new debt in 2022.

Restrictions to curb the second wave of Covid-19 – including shutting the food-and-drink, leisure and cultural sectors – continue to burden the economy, which previously pushed Berlin to amplify its aid to businesses.

Yet case rates continue to climb. On Friday, Germany reported a record nearly 30,000 new infections and almost 600 deaths in a 24-hour period.

Now, Merkel is facing calls to tighten restrictions again.

READ ALSO: Germany mulls three-week lockdown from December 20th

Aid can't be 'endless'

Despite the “ray of hope” of a vaccine rollout, Scholz said, “we know that… we're going to be struggling well into next year with the health, economic and social challenges that are going to follow from this pandemic.”

Businesses hit by the current closures are entitled to claim aid amounting to up to 75 percent of their revenues for November and December 2019, expected to cost the government some 30 billion euros.

However Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said last week that support for pandemic-hit firms implemented through November and December could not go on “endlessly”.

Nevertheless Altmaier on Friday said he aimed to increase the ceiling for aid from January in the case of a harder lockdown.

Germany's debt-to-GDP ratio will climb to 70 percent this year, Germany's central bank said in a report published Friday.

But public finances will likely improve as coronavirus measures come to an end, it said.

The government expects the economy to shrink by 5.5 percent this year, before rebounding by 4.4 percent next year.

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