US Senator to Saudi Crown Prince: Help the poor in Gaza

US Senator and former Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has criticised Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for not doing enough to help people in the besieged Gaza Strip.

“The Saudi Crown Prince has recently bought a half-billion-dollar yacht because he thought it was beautiful. I am also sure that his palace; the most expensive in the world and worth $300 million is also beautiful,” Sanders said during the annual conference of pro-peace Jewish group, J- Street.

“Stop talking about the poor and their tragedies in Gaza Strip and do something about it,” he continued. Sanders said Saudi Arabia has provided $50 million to UNRWA; only ten per cent of what the Crown Prince paid for the yacht.

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Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz announced at the Arab League Summit on Sunday that the Kingdom has donated $150 million to support Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem and another $50 million for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics announced last week that more than half the people in Gaza, or 53 per cent of the enclave’s population, live in poverty.

UN agencies warn that the Gaza Strip will be unfit for human habitation by 2020 because of a lack of clean drinking water. The United Nations said last year that 80 per cent of Gaza population receives urgent humanitarian aid.