For the Palestinian relief nonprofits behind a $1 million pledge from rapper Macklemore, the Grammy winner\u2019s latest contributions offer more than just money.<\/p>\n
Macklemore committed to donate his net earnings<\/a> from Ed Sheeran\u2019s Loop Tour after he was dropped for making pro-Palestinian comments<\/a> onstage at New Jersey\u2019s MetLife Stadium.<\/p>\n The goal, he wrote in a Wednesday post on social media, was to \u201cbring the conversation back to where it belongs\u201d \u2014 the Palestinian people \u2014 after a 48-hour period that saw four supporting acts quit in solidarity and confusion over who held responsibility for the decision.<\/p>\n The six donation recipients included Medical Aid for Palestinians, Palestine Children\u2019s Relief Fund and the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.<\/a> In addition to the funding windfall, their leaders welcomed the renewed public awareness of the perilous living conditions faced by the Palestinian people they treat regularly.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if you don\u2019t see bombs falling every night, the rubble is still there,\u201d said Alicia Phillips Mandaville, the acting CEO of Anera, another beneficiary. \u201cAnd the traumatized children are still traumatized.\u201d<\/p>\n Attention on continued pleas for help<\/p>\n Tareq Hailat, the director of strategic engagement at Palestine Children\u2019s Relief Fund, said his phone rings \u201call the time\u201d with calls from people in Gaza \u201cbleeding and asking for help.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are children dying every single day. There\u2019s our team that is constantly in danger on the ground every single day. There\u2019s people we have to feed,\u201d he said. \u201cSo to have this attention on it is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n 00:24<\/p>\n Mural of Macklemore painted in Gaza<\/p>\n 00:0000:00<\/p>\n Israeli operations have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians<\/a> since a fragile ceasefire took effect last October. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians struggle to get healthcare in the West Bank. Palestinians say water shortages persist. The world\u2019s leading authority on food insecurity warned in July that most Gaza families still weren\u2019t getting nearly enough to eat even as Israel allowed more aid.<\/p>\n The Palestinian Children\u2019s Relief Fund medically evacuates children who can\u2019t get the care they need because of crumbling healthcare infrastructure and flies outside physicians in to treat others inside Gaza.<\/p>\n The nonprofit will put its share of Macklemore\u2019s gift into an unrestricted fund, according to Hailat. The donation allows leaders to more fluidly direct money based on the evolving circumstances inside Gaza.<\/p>\n Anera \u2014 a humanitarian aid group working in Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan \u2014 noted its donation also came with no requirements for how to use the money. Mandaville said that flexibility is important when \u201cthe way people live\u201d and \u201cthe rules we work inside\u201d change on a monthly basis.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s flooding again this year like there was last year, we can deal with that. If there is an acute hunger crisis again, like there has been in the past, we can meet that,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can buy more blankets because people want their grandparents to be warm at night.\u201d<\/p>\n Macklemore has long supported Palestinians<\/p>\n This week\u2019s gift wasn\u2019t the first time Macklemore has donated to some of the recipients.<\/p>\n The rapper has long advocated for Palestinians. He previously pledged the proceeds and streaming royalties from his protest anthems \u201cHind\u2019s Hall\u201d and \u201cHind\u2019s Hall 2\u201d to UNRWA.<\/p>\n More than $509,000 in support has come through those royalties, according to UNRWA USA CEO Mara Kronenfeld.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has been contributing to saving probably hundreds of thousands of lives in Gaza through his contributions already,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n This latest donation is already catalyzing more gifts. Ms. Rachel<\/a>, a YouTube star and music teacher, announced Thursday that she would donate $1 million to the Palestinian Children\u2019s Relief Fund and called on others to match the gift.<\/p>\n