A Paris conference on aid for conflict-stricken Lebanon has raised around $800 million for humanitarian aid but saw little diplomatic progress as fighting continues between Israel and Hezbollah, AFP reports.
“In total, we have jointly gathered $800m in humanitarian aid,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told participants as the conference closed.
He added that there was a further “$200m for the security forces” bringing the total to “almost a billion, even more than a billion … with the latest contributions”.
The total far outstrips both France’s target of 500m euros and the 400m originally requested by the UN for Lebanon, where Barrot said over 2,500 people had been killed and “almost one million” displaced in fighting since late September.
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