King Salman doubled Saudi Arabia's Yemen aid commitment to $540 million on Wednesday, the first day of a humanitarian pause in a bombing campaign it has led against neighbouring rebels. "We announce that we are setting aside one billion riyals ($266 million) for aid and humanitarian operations... in addition to more than one billion riyals ($274 million) we had already pledged," the official Saudi Press Agency quoted the king as saying.
On April 18, the kingdom announced it would fund the entire $274 million sought by the United Nations in an appeal for emergency assistance to help victims of the war in Yemen.