As Arab leaders came under heavy criticism from their people for failing to provide anything beyond paying lip service to the Palestinians in Gaza, individuals in the region have donated millions of dollars in campaigns organised through television programmes and Facebook, writes Abeer Allam in Riyadh .

The pan-Arab television show Cairo Today organised a telethon this week to collect about $1m to buy a dozen ambulances requested by Palestinian doctors. However, callers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates donated up to $1.5m within the first hour.