By Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - Citizens donated more than JD600,000 in two days for a campaign organised by the Professional Associations Council (PAC) to raise JD1 million for Gaza, while similar efforts also reported success.

President of the Jordan Engineers Association (JEA) Wael Saqqa said on Wednesday that the “enthusiasm we have seen from the citizens to support their brothers in Palestine encouraged us to raise the campaign's target to JD5 million".

Saqqa told The Jordan Times that the JEA has addressed its 75,000 members, 20,000 of whom are working in Gulf countries, to donate one day's wages for the sake of the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza suffering from Israeli aggression.

Meanwhile, the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO) on Wednesday sent a 10-truck aid convoy to Gaza to be distributed in the strip by international humanitarian organisations.

"The convoy carried 150 tonnes of medical aid urgently needed by hospitals in Gaza, in addition to 1,000 units of plasma and 1,000 blood units," Mohammad Kilani, JHCO spokesperson, said yesterday.

Kilani pointed out the next aid convoy will be dispatched to Gaza on Sunday since the border crossings will be closed for four days.

He added that the organisation is still receiving cash and in-kind donations from citizens and other private entities, stressing that the JHCO is in need of more cash than in-kind donations. Head of the caretaker committee at the General Union for Voluntary Societies said they passed JD10,000 in donations over to the JHCO.

Also Wednesday, Haidar Murad, president of the Jordan Chamber of Commerce, said JD350,000 worth of donations have been received by the chamber over the past few days from the business sector in the Kingdom, urging the private sector to contribute more to help the Palestinians in Gaza survive the all-out war launched by the Israeli occupation forces.

The Justice Ministry said they started a campaign yesterday to gather donations from its employees across the Kingdom, adding that the ministry has set three centres in the north, south and in the central regions to collect cash and in-kind donations.

In Irbid, the We are All Jordan initiative committee, in coordination with the hospitals in the governorate, organised a team to encourage residents to donate blood.