Barcelona
Ciutat Refugi Ajuntament de Barcelona

During his official visit to Jordan, Mayor Jaume Collboni announced that Barcelona will double its financial contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in order to support the population of Gaza and Palestinian refugees, increasing it from the current €200,000 to €400,000.

On August 25, Jaume Collboni visited the UNRWA warehouse located near Amman on the first day of his trip to Jordan. The mayor met with Olaf Becker, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Jordan, who explained to him the challenges of delivering humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza given the current state of famine, declared on Friday by the United Nations. Collboni was accompanied during the visit by the Spanish Ambassador to Jordan, Miguel de Lucas González, and by the city’s Deputy Mayor responsible for International Relations and Human Rights, Maria Eugènia Gay.

According to the Mayor of Barcelona, “The situation in the occupied territories of the Gaza Strip is desperate because humanitarian aid with food and medicine has been blocked and cannot enter a territory that the United Nations has declared to be suffering from famine. Barcelona joins the denunciation made by many countries and many cities around the world in the face of this situation and, in addition, will double its financial contribution from €200,000 to €400,000 to purchase medicines and food and to strengthen health support for doctors and nurses in the Strip. We are not only denouncing the situation, but also increasing our support for the occupied territories and for the Gaza Strip at such a dramatic time.”

Jaume Collboni also expressed his gratitude for the messages of support he has received in recent days following the denial of entry into Palestine —which, prior to Jordan, was meant to be the first stop on his tour of the Middle East— by the Israeli authorities. He highlighted the statements of solidarity from the mayors of Bethlehem and Ramallah, with whom he was ultimately unable to meet as planned, and made special reference to the Mayor of Gaza City, Yahya R. Sarraj, who on August 24 addressed a letter to him praising the long-standing relationship of cooperation and friendship between the two cities.

Collboni further stated, “Israel’s veto against the Mayor of Barcelona is anecdotal. What is extremely cruel is that there are currently more than 6,000 trucks unable to bring food and medicine into the Gaza Strip. This is what we want to denounce, and beyond that we want to provide the material resources to alleviate the situation and help those people who at this very moment cannot eat or drink.”

Since 2012, Barcelona City Council has maintained a steady line of support for the population of Gaza. This collaboration began with annual contributions of around €100,000; in 2024 this yearly contribution rose to nearly €200,000, after an extraordinary allocation of €300,000 was made in 2023 in response to the wartime situation affecting the area.

Collboni is also scheduled to meet with the Mayor of Amman, Youssef al-Shawarbeh, with the aim of strengthening Barcelona’s ties with the Jordanian capital.