Israel joining aid effort in cholera-stricken South Sudan

Israel will provide “urgent” humanitarian aid to South Sudan to address a cholera crisis there, the Foreign Ministry announces, days after a report surfaced that named the East African country as a possible destination for relocated Gazans.

“In light of the severe humanitarian crisis in South Sudan,” Israel’s Agency for International Development Coordination, MASHAV, “will provide urgent humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations in the country,” reads a statement.

The aid — which includes medical equipment, water purification supplies, gloves and face masks, special hygiene kits, and food packages — aims to address a cholera outbreak in the young country, which “suffers from a severe shortage of resources,” the statement says.

IsraAID, an Israeli non-governmental organization operating in South Sudan, will also assist in the aid operation, adds the ministry.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met last month with visiting South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba, and the two “discussed the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, which is worsening due to the influx of refugees fleeing the war in Sudan,” according to Jerusalem.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel visited South Sudan last week, a day after it was reported that Israel was in talks with the country about resettling Gazans — though the African nation has sharply denied the allegations.