The ‘Jana Aragalaya Sandhanaya’  (People’s Struggle movement) has launched a program in Galle to collect aid for the Cuban people, who are facing hardships due to sanctions imposed by the United States.

Organizers said the assistance gathered through the initiative will be handed over to the Cuban Embassy in Sri Lanka.

The movement stressed that the program is intended to show solidarity with the Cuban people during this period of economic strain. (Newswire)

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The High-Level Committee for Foreign Relief Aid (Supplies) Coordination (HL-FRAC), appointed to ensure the effective distribution of foreign relief supplies among the disaster-affected population, convened for its sixth session at the Disaster Management Centre on  Wednesday (31 Dec). 

According to a Defence Ministry statement, during the meeting, media personnel were briefed on the foreign humanitarian assistance received as well as the services rendered by foreign relief teams involved in disaster response efforts.

It was revealed that Sri Lanka has received Humanitarian assistance from 22 foreign countries and the World Food Programme (WFP) to support communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah.

The President established the HL-FRAC  Committee to ensure the proper management, coordination, and effective distribution of foreign relief supplies among the affected population. The Committee, chaired by Deputy Minister of Defence, Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd), has convened on several occasions and taken decisive measures to ensure complete transparency and maximum efficiency throughout the relief operations. 

Accordingly, all foreign assistance arriving in the country through airports and seaports is being securely and systematically stored at the Orugodawatta warehouse complex. The mechanism to distribute these supplies in a timely and efficient manner to disaster-affected communities across the island has now been further strengthened through the National Disaster Relief Services Centre (NDRSC).

During the sixth session of the Committee, it was revealed that relief assistance received includes essential food items, medicines, and a range of key technical equipment used for disaster management operations. 

The international community has also provided specialized civil engineering equipment, including bridge restoration resources, along with vehicles required for transportation and logistics. In addition, special tents and protective shelters have been supplied to provide safe temporary accommodation for those who have lost their homes. Household items, clothing, and other supplies essential for helping affected people resume their daily lives have also been received.

Country-wise received relief support:

The Defence Ministry statement further said that the Government has taken all necessary measures to ensure that all humanitarian assistance is distributed swiftly to disaster-affected communities with the highest level of transparency. Information on the distribution process is reported every three days to the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office, and the updated information released by these institutions is made available to the media.

The distribution of humanitarian aid from the Orugodawatta warehouse complex has been further streamlined through District Secretariats, based on requests submitted by Divisional Secretaries. Storage capacity at the complex has been expanded, security strengthened, and all required support has been provided to the staff to ensure smooth operations. The Deputy Minister of Defence also emphasized that necessary steps will be taken to conduct a formal audit of the entire distribution process in the future.

Furthermore, from the very outset of the disaster, several countries came forward to provide human resource assistance to Sri Lanka. Accordingly, relief teams comprising 89 specialists from seven (07) countries are currently contributing actively to relief operations in the country. These teams have worked in close coordination with local relief agencies, engaging in search and rescue operations, providing rapid medical assistance to affected persons, and supporting emergency construction activities.

In addition, utilizing modern technologies, these teams have carried out a range of essential services, including monitoring disaster situations, mapping affected areas, and providing water purification services to ensure access to safe drinking water. Some of the relief teams, upon the successful completion of their mission, have now left the country.

Country-wise received service support:

The Deputy Minister of Defence, on behalf of the President and the entire Sri Lankan nation, expressed his gratitude and sincere appreciation to all foreign countries and their people for their assistance to support Sri Lanka at a time of great need. 

He also appreciated the Sri Lankan expatriate community, who selflessly extended their support and made immense sacrifices for their motherland. (Newswire)

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A humanitarian flight from the USA arrived at the Jaffna International Airport today (08 Dec). 

According to the Jaffana Airport, the flight arrived with a vital relief consignment for communities affected by the recent disaster in Sri Lanka.

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who continues to stand with and support Sri Lanka during this challenging time,” the Jaffna Airport said in a statement. (Newswire)

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has dispatched another humanitarian relief consignment to Sri Lanka as part of its ongoing support for communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah. 

According to the President’s Office, the aid shipment arrived this afternoon 903 Dec) aboard a UAE Air Force C-17A aircraft.

The cargo consisted of food packets, relief bags, rescue vehicles and utility vehicles, all intended to strengthen the ongoing search, rescue and recovery operations in cyclone-affected areas. 

The consignment was officially received by Brigadier Sachindra Wijesiriwardhane of the Sri Lanka Army, who conveyed Sri Lanka’s appreciation for the UAE’s swift assistance.

The relief was provided by the UAE’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team, and they reaffirmed their continued commitment to supporting Sri Lanka’s emergency response efforts. 

This latest delivery adds to the growing international support mobilised to aid Sri Lanka’s recovery from the disaster. (Newswire)

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The government has decided to provide an initial grant of Rs. 25,000 for cleaning houses damaged by the prevailing disaster situation, according to the Colombo District Coordinating Committee.

Accordingly, the distribution of the Rs. 25,000 initial grant money given by the government for cleaning houses damaged by floods in the Thimbirigasyaya Divisional Secretariat Division of Colombo District was carried out under the patronage of Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, yesterday (02). 

On this occasion, more than 100 families in flood‑affected areas of the Thimbirigasyaya Divisional Secretariat Division, who can once again reside in their houses, were given the Rs. 25,000 initial grant for cleaning their houses. 

In the future, the relevant Divisional Secretariats are scheduled to provide this money for cleaning houses to the people in other Divisional Secretariat Divisions affected by disasters.

This occasion was attended by Colombo District Coordinating Committee Chairman, MP Lakshman Nipuna Arachchi, the Mayor of Colombo, together with Municipal Councillors, Colombo District Secretary Ginige Prasanna Janaka Kumara, Thimbirigasyaya Divisional Secretary Sugath Sisira Kumara, officials, and the residents of flood‑affected areas in the Thimbirigasyaya Divisional Secretariat Division. (Newswire)

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Twenty-five nations, including Britain, Canada and Japan, issued a joint statement on Monday with “a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now.”

The statement by the U.S. allies and partners across the globe and published online by the U.K. government condemns Israel’s tightly-controlled aid distribution method, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s U.S.-backed government of the “drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children.”

“It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid,” said the statement, which was published after one of the deadliest days for aid seekers during the 21-month war in Gaza. Health officials in the Hamas-run enclave said more than 80 people were killed trying to access emergency food supplies on Sunday alone.

In addition to the U.K., the nations that signed the joint statement were Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the statement says. “The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.”

The war in Gaza was sparked by the Hamas-orchestrated terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken as hostages. Most of those captives have since been released, but Netanyahu said earlier this month that 50 remain in Gaza, including 20 he said were still alive.

“The hostages cruelly held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023 continue to suffer terribly,” the 25 nations said in the statement. “We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release. A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families.”

Israel does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza to report on the war, making it impossible to independently verify figures provided by the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry and other agencies. The Israeli government rejects these numbers as falsely inflated, but the United Nations says the ministry’s figure of more than 59,000 people being killed in total since the war started is the most credible information available.

In a statement shared on social media, Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said Israel rejected the joint international statement, “as is disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas.”

CBS News’ own team inside Gaza has spoken with medical workers and family members of aid seekers who say Israeli forces have routinely opened fire on people near food distribution sites since at least the end of May, when a new, controversial, U.S.- and Israeli-backed organization started operating a handful of “humanitarian hubs” in the enclave.

The deaths reported on Sunday, near a convoy of aid trucks operated by the U.N.’s World Food Program, were not linked to the U.S.-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is run by an evangelical preacher who worked previously as an adviser to President Trump. But Palestinian authorities say most of the aid seekers killed by Israeli forces over the last month and a half were trying to access GHF hubs.

GHF director Rev. Johnnie Moore told CBS News earlier this month that while he didn’t “want to diminish these reports” about killings near GHF hubs, “we can’t control what happens outside our distribution sites.”  

He repeated his previous calls — which have been echoed by the White House — for the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies to join the GHF’s efforts to feed people in Gaza.

None of the established humanitarian agencies that have worked for decades in Gaza have agreed to work with the GHF, saying it forces already-displaced Palestinians to trek for miles to reach its hubs and that it violates basic humanitarian principles.

The Trump administration announced its first public support for the GHF in early July: $30 million in funding.

In a statement on Monday, COGAT, the Israeli military agency in charge of affairs in the Palestinian territories, said: “Israel acts in accordance with international law and is leading efforts to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza in coordination with the international organizations.”

Israel has blamed Hamas for all deaths in Gaza since the war began, accusing it of using civilians as human shields and of seizing aid materials for its own use, both of which the group — long designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Israel and the European Union — denies doing.

Pope Leo XIV also renewed his call over the weekend for “an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict” in Gaza.

Netanyahu has said repeatedly that the war will continue until Hamas is rendered impotent militarily and politically, and all the hostages are returned.

The international outcry and mounting demands for an immediate ceasefire come at a time when there’s little to suggest any imminent breakthrough in ongoing negotiations for a truce. They come instead as Israel says it is again expanding its ground war in Gaza, forcing thousands of Palestinians to once again flee for safety.

Israel warns of new ground operation in central Gaza

On Sunday, Israel widened its evacuation orders for Gaza to include an area that has been somewhat less hard-hit than others, indicating a new battleground may be opening up and squeezing Palestinians into ever tinier areas.

In an Arabic language social media post published Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces warned that it was operating “with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure” in the central city of Deir al-Balah, “as it expands its activities in this region to operate in an area it has not operated in before.”

“For your safety, evacuate the area immediately and move south,” the IDF said.

The U.N.’s humanitarian agency OCHA estimated that between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area under the new evacuation order, and families were seen carrying what few items they could on donkey carts, bicycles and even dragging sleds behind them as they headed south.

Deir el-Balah resident Abdullah Abu Saleem, 48, told the French news agency AFP that “during the night, we heard huge and powerful explosions shaking the area as if it were an earthquake,” which he attributed to “artillery shelling in the south-central part of Deir el-Balah and the southeastern area.”

“We are extremely worried and fearful that the army is planning a ground operation in Deir el-Balah, and the central camps where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering,” he told AFP.

The Israeli military did not provide immediate comment on the operations, but the GLZ Radio network, which is funded by the Israeli government and affiliated directly with the IDF, reported Monday that soldiers had, “for the first time since the start of the war,” entered Deir al-Balah on the ground.

GLZ said a single combat brigade, “including engineering and armor forces, have recently entered a maneuver in the southern Deir al-Balah area in the central camps in the Gaza Strip. The attacks were preceded by air and artillery strikes during the night and morning, and in the afternoon the forces went into action.”

The announced expansion of ground operations drew a quick statement of concern from the group that represents the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza – the precise whereabouts of whom remain unknown.

“The families demand that the Prime Minister, Defense Minister, Chief of Staff, and IDF Spokesperson appear before them and the Israeli public this evening to clearly explain why the offensive in the Deir al-Balah area does not put the hostages at serious risk,” the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters said in a statement. “As of this moment, we have received no official, organized updates or satisfactory answers on this matter. The people of Israel will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangered the hostages — both the living and the deceased. No one will be able to claim they didn’t know what was at stake.” (CBSN)

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The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal to increase the financial aid given for a housing unit, under the housing program “A house for you – a tomorrow for the country”, to Rs. 01 million. 

According to the government, the housing program is being implemented to reduce the housing issue of low-income people and the poverty associated therewith. 

Under this program, one low-income family from every Grama Niladhari division is selected on a priority basis and offered aid for constructing/upgrading a house based on the progress of the construction. 

The selected beneficiary should construct a house with a minimum of 550 square feet, and in addition to the amount of Rs. 650,000 given by the government, the remaining amount has to be borne by the concerned beneficiary. 

Even though at the onset of the program, Rs. 1,147,000/- was the estimated cost per house, the respective cost has increased up to Rs. 1,764,000/- at present. 

As such, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Urban Development, Construction, and Housing to increase the portion of the amount given by the government from Rs. 650,000 to Rs. 01 million.

It has been proposed to increase the financial aid as the beneficiary selected has been unable to bear the remaining amount due to their poor economic condition. (Newswire)

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The Japanese government has provided aid worth approximately Rs. 300 million to support Sri Lankans affected by the recent adverse weather.

Emergency supplies, coordinated through the Japanese Embassy in Sri Lanka and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) on Saturday.

Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Isomata Akio officially handed over the supplies to local authorities. The relief materials will be distributed to those impacted by the weather through the relevant District Secretaries. (Newswire)

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The Chinese Government has decided to provide further financial aid of approximately Rs. 400 million to Sri Lanka for flood relief.

The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka announced that the Chinese Government is to provide a batch of Emergency Humanitarian Materials.

The Embassy added that this was in addition to a recent Emergency Assistance of approximately Rs.30 million in cash that was handed over to the President of Sri Lanka. (Newswire)

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