Al Azhar Grand Imam Calls for Increasing Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine

Al Azhar Grand Imam Ahmad Al Tayyeb Called on the international community to increase humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

In a tweet, Al Azhar Grand Imam said: "We are witnessing Ukrainian civilians leave their homes in quest of safety and security, which is a true test of our humanity."

Azhar Grand Imam added: "I call on the international community to increase humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and exert further efforts to end the war. I ask Almighty Allah to help the innocent return to their homes sooner rather than later."

On Saturday, the first batch of UNICEF humanitarian supplies has arrived in Lviv, western Ukraine, from UNICEF’s Global Supply and Logistics Hub in Copenhagen. It is part of a six-truck convoy containing an estimated 62 tonnes of supplies on its way to the war-ravaged country.

The supplies include personal protective equipment to protect health workers from COVID-19 as they respond to the critical health needs of children and families, as well as desperately needed medical supplies, including medicine, first aid kits, midwifery kits and surgical equipment, and early childhood and recreational kits.

“The situation for children and families in Ukraine is increasingly desperate,” said Murat Sahin, UNICEF Representative in Ukraine. “These supplies will help provide much needed support to women, children and health care workers.”

Since the conflict escalated, families have been sheltering underground, cut off from basic services. Hospitals and maternity wards have moved their patient to basements. Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people are without safe drinking water due to damage to water system infrastructure. The country is running low on critical medical supplies and has had to halt urgent efforts to curb a polio outbreak.