SHAH ALAM, Singer Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza Tarudin is grateful that all the students and staff of the Afwa Al Afiyah school in Gaza, Palestine, which was developed through the Nurjiwa Foundation, have arrived safely in the south of Gaza.
She said that for the time being Malaysians' donations through the foundation, can still be channelled, even in very dire circumstances, as the representative, who is also her acquaintance, Dr Mohanad, is safe and able to handle the donations.
She said that she and her husband, Datuk Seri Khalid Mohamad Jiwa's focus is now on providing basic needs, including food, clean water and blankets, for the people in Palestine, via the foundation.
“The school has more than 100 students, as young as five years old, with more than 10 staff, who are still continuing their duties, which are now focused on charity work for the people in the south of Gaza,” she said while appearing in the Bizjihad programme, hosted by the Selangor Zakat Board, here today.
Executive chairman of Capital A, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, also participated in the programme, which was held to share the experiences of these two figures in their respective fields, regarding the importance and obligation of paying zakat and the merits of almsgiving.
Siti Nurhaliza also said that Dr Mohanad had informed them before they left for south of Gaza, that Afwa Al Afiyah school was still safe from bomb blasts or attacks by Israeli Zionist forces.
She added that Dr Mohanad would go back and forth every day from their residence to a nearby hospital to get internet coverage and to share their status there.
“In the two years that this school has been operating, it has provided shelter to mostly orphans. However, we are grateful that, even though Nurjiwa Foundation is not as big as other charitable organisations, we are able to provide aid directly to the children there,” she said while holding back tears.
The number of casualties, due to the continuous attacks of Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip since Oct 7, has exceeded 11,540, including more than 8,000 women and children, while another 28,200 have been injured, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry on Monday.
Siti Nurhaliza said apart from aid for the Palestinian people, the Nurjiwa Foundation, which was established in 2006, also helps flood victims, the asnaf group, and schooling and medical assistance for the underprivileged in Malaysia.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency