On Thursday, Germany said that it is providing 25 million euros ($27 million) for Holocaust survivors in Israel to help to cope with the impact of the attack by Hamas and Gaza war.
According to the Claims Conference, an organisation that seeks damages for Holocaust survivors and which worked with the German government on the scheme, each of the 113,000 Jewish survivors in Israel will receive a one-off payment of 220 euros.
A German finance ministry spokeswoman said, ‘Many Holocaust survivors were hit hard by the Hamas attacks’. She said, ‘The additional funds were aimed at helping them in this frightening war situation’.
Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, appreciated the payout as a message of solidarity from Germany to Israel’s Holocaust survivors.
The ministry said, ‘The payments are being distributed in Israel in cooperation with the Claims Conference and the Holocaust Survivors Rights Authority of the Israeli government’.
Germany is a supporter of Israel and its response to the Hamas attacks and ensuing conflict has been driven by its own dark past, and the slaughter of six million Jews by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
According to the Israeli figures, ‘The war in the Gaza Strip broke out after Palestinian group Hamas launched an October 7 attack against Israel, which left 1,170 people dead’.
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