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Amal and George Clooney Donated $100,000 to Lebanese Charities After the Beirut Explosion

Remember When Amal Clooney Brilliantly Shut Down a Reporter’s Question About Her Courtroom Style?

Remember When Amal Clooney Brilliantly Shut Down a Reporter’s Question About Her Courtroom Style?

Days after an explosion killed at least 135 people and injured more than 5,000 people on Tuesday, Amal and George Clooney are donating $100,000 for relief efforts, People reports. In a statement provided to the magazine, the Clooneys stated that the money would go to three charities: the Lebanese Red Cross, Impact Lebanon, and Baytna Baytak. In the wake of the explosion, a quarter of a million people have been left homeless.

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Amal was born in Beirut, though her family fled the country when she was 2 years old, escaping the Lebanese Civil War and settling in England.

"We’re both deeply concerned for the people of Beirut and the devastation they’ve faced in the last few days," the statement reads. "Three charitable organizations we've found are providing essential relief on the ground: the Lebanese Red Cross, Impact Lebanon, and Baytna Baytak. We will be donating $100,000 to these charities and hope that others will help in any way they can."

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The exact cause of the explosion remains unclear. According to Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon's intelligence agency, the explosion might be traced to a cache of "highly explosive material confiscated from a ship and stored in a warehouse in Beirut's port detonated following a fire," the Associated Press reports. During a message to the people of Lebanon, Prime Minister Hassan Diab mentioned a "dangerous warehouse" that the government had known about for six years, the BBC notes. In describing the scope of the disaster, The Sun reports that Lebanese health minister Hamad Hasan said, "I have never in my life seen a disaster this big."