The Scottish Government is contributing £500,000 of funding for Humanitarian Aid to Palestine. This is in addition to the £600,000 in 2025 Scotland donated to the Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund.
2.4 million people were supported by the funding in 2025 in Gaza and the West Bank.
Vigils for Gaza take place in Orkney every Saturday between 1 and 2pm on the Kirk Green, Broad Street, Kirkwall.
The vigils started at the end of October 2023, since then atrocities by Israel have spread to The West Bank, and now into Lebanon with the US/Israel War of Choice.
The Humanitarian Aid the Scottish Government has donated to will support: healthcare, access to food, clean water, education, protection services, and for emergency financial support.
Attacks by illegal Israeli settler groups aided and abetted by the Israeli military have increased in both frequency and levels of violence and killing. Premises run by the United Nations have also been invaded. The Kalandia Training Centre (KTC), a United Nations facility located in occupied East Jerusalem, was forcibly entered on 27 July, disrupting ongoing educational activities and raising renewed concern over the protection of UN premises under international law.
Between 7 October 2023 and 13 July 2026, 1,111 Palestinians – at least 243 of them children – were killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Sixty-five of them have been killed since the beginning of 2026.
In Lebanon almost half a million people have had to flee their homes due to the US/Israel led War of Choice. The United Nations states that ‘Lebanon faces crises including delayed elections, economic collapse and conflict.’
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said that,
“I am concerned that the overall conduct resulting in large scale displacement and denial of returns could amount to international crimes.
“I am struck by the widespread damage and compounded suffering that I have seen. The trauma, frustration and despair are palpable – but so too is the demand for justice which I heard resoundingly.”
The Israeli military relies on foreign nationals serving in its forces as mercenaries. Young Israelis are conscripted to serve. In several countries proceedings for war crimes are underway to put on trial their nationals who have served in the Israeli military during the Gaza Genocide.
Declassified UK reports that :
The Metropolitan Police Service has reversed its decision to close a war crimes probe into UK nationals who fought for Israel amid the Gaza genocide, it can be revealed.
Ten UK nationals, some with dual citizenship, are alleged to have committed ‘international crimes such as “wilful killing, extermination, attacking civilians, and deportation or forcible transfer of population”.’
In Australia ABC reports that ‘The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is considering a brief of evidence detailing alleged war crimes against an Australian citizen working with the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza.’
John Swinney, First Minister of Scotland welcomed Ambassador Husam Zomlot حسام زملط to Bute House, Edinburgh affirming that ‘Scotland will continue to proudly stand with the people of Palestine.’
The Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund (OPT HF) which Scotland has contributed to is managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Ninety per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.1 million people has been displaced, lacking access to essential services such as shelter, food, medical care, clean water, education, and livelihoods.
In the West Bank, the humanitarian situation has further exacerbated since October 2023, resulting in Palestinian casualties and displacement. This is marked in the intensification of Israeli forces and settler violence, restrictive and discriminatory planning regime, destruction of Palestinian-owned structures, and other occupation-related laws, policies and practices, which have generated a coercive environment in various areas, which creates pressure on residents to leave their communities and places them at risk of forcible transfer.
Fiona Grahame