Prince William and Princess Kate's secret kind gesture ahead of family break revealed
The Prince and Princess of Wales have followed in the footsteps of King Charles and Queen Camilla, and have secretly donated to a group of charities working to get aid into Gaza and Lebanon.
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) confirmed that Their Majesties were "among the first" to privately donate to the new appeal.
The group includes 15 UK aid charities providing food, water, shelter and medicine to areas of the Middle East where "significant humanitarian needs are not being met".
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The Government will match the first £10 million of donations from the British public to the DEC's Middle East Humanitarian Appeal, which was announced on Thursday.
The DEC said on X, formerly Twitter: "A huge thank you to the King and Queen for being amongst the first to donate to the DEC Middle East Humanitarian Appeal @RoyalFamily.
"DEC charities are providing life-saving aid in Gaza, Lebanon and the wider region. With the generous help of the UK public they will be able to do so much more."
DEC charities have been working in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank over the past year, and said 2.1 million people in Gaza do not have enough food, 1.9 million are displaced, with a further one million in Lebanon.
A £30 donation to its appeal could provide blankets for six people, £50 could pay for a week's worth of food for five families, and £100 could give five families emergency shelter.
In regards to helping people in Israel, its website states: "The DEC appeal responses always focus on those areas where significant humanitarian needs are not being met."
The group said: "In Gaza, people are dying of hunger and disease, as well as injuries caused by the conflict. Food and clean water are desperately scarce. Ninety per cent of the population are displaced and more than 42,000 people have been killed.
"In Lebanon, more than a million people have had to leave their homes in recent weeks. Shelters are overwhelmed and hospitals are struggling to treat the thousands of people injured."
Back in February, Prince William called for fighting in the Israel-Hamas war to end "as soon as possible" and an increase in humanitarian support for Gaza.
He said in his statement: "I remain deeply concerned about the terrible human cost of the conflict in the Middle East since the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7. Too many have been killed.
"I, like so many others, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible. There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. It’s critical that aid gets in and the hostages are released.
"Sometimes it is only when faced with the sheer scale of human suffering that the importance of permanent peace is brought home.
"Even in the darkest hour, we must not succumb to the counsel of despair. I continue to cling to the hope that a brighter future can be found and I refuse to give up on that."
