Quds City (Jerusalem), Jumada I 18, 1434, Mar 30, 2013, SPA - The European Union contributed €9.6 million to support impoverished Palestinian families in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, an EU press release said Friday. A total of €7.85 million came from the EU budget, with Austria contributing an additional €1.25 million and Ireland €0.5 million. The contribution is the EU's first for this year out of a total of €40 million allocated for 2013 and will reach almost 60,000 families in need, with more than half of them living in the Gaza Strip. “The European Union, Austria and Ireland joined efforts to contribute to this year's first payment of social allowances to Palestinians living in extreme poverty in the West Bank and Gaza," said EU Representative, John Gatt-Rutter, according to a report of Palestine News and Information Agency "WAFA."
