Host nation Kuwait leads contributions with $500m pledge during event aimed at raising money for victims of ongoing war.
Donors meeting in Kuwait have pledged nearly $2.4bn in humanitarian aid for victims of the Syrian war, which the UN chief says has left half the population in need of urgent help.
Millions of Syrians have been driven from their homes as a result of the crisis, now in its third year, and getting aid to many of those in need remains a challenge because they remain trapped in communities besieged by the fighting.
Delegates from nearly 70 nations and 24 international organisations gathered on Wednesday in Kuwait City for the one-day event chaired by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general.
The second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria had gathered almost $2.4bn by mid-day as the UN sought to raise an unprecedented $6.5bn, the largest ever in the organisation’s history for a single humanitarian emergency.
“Half of the total population of Syrian people, nearly 9.3 million individuals urgently need humanitarian aid,” Ban told participants, pointing out that more than three million people have fled.
“I am especially concerned about reports of starvation” in Syria.
Al-Jazeera.