Global hip-hop superstar The Weeknd has donated $2.5 million toward providing emergency meals in Gaza.
The United Nations World Food Program on Friday, December 1, announced that WFP Goodwill Ambassador The Weeknd has directed $2.5 million from his XO Humanitarian Fund to aid the WFP's humanitarian response in Gaza.
The donation equates to nearly four million emergency meals. It will fund 820 metric tons of food parcels that could feed over 173,000 Palestinians for two weeks, according to World Food Program USA.
Since October 7, the WFP has provided food assistance to more than 764,000 Palestinians by working with regional partners and other UN agencies.
"This conflict has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe beyond reckoning. WFP is working round the clock to provide aid in Gaza but a major scale up is needed to address the desperate level of hunger we are seeing," WFP's Director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe Region, Corinne Fleischer said in a statement.
Israel has been bombarding Gaza in response to Islamic militant group Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the murder of over 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 240 women, children, men and elderly citizens.
"Our teams need safe and sustained humanitarian access, and continued support from donors to reach as many people as we can," Fleischer continued. "We thank Abel for this valuable contribution towards the people of Palestine. We hope others will follow Abel's example and support our efforts."
(Photo: Brian Ziff; CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia)
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Entertainment News
June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.