By Steven Scheer
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – U.S. chipmaker Nvidia and its employees have donated $15 million to Israeli and foreign non-profit organisations that are supporting civilians affected by Israel’s war with Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Thousands of employees from more than 30 countries donated a total of $5 million, which the company matched and doubled to $10 million under a special program introduced to help those affected by the war, Nvidia said on Sunday.
It noted that the donation was the largest humanitarian fundraiser in the company’s 30-year-old history.
“We are proud to see such broad support from Nvidia families in Israel and around the world, and are grateful for their prayers and hope for the return of our colleague Avinatan Or, and the other hostages from Hamas captivity,” said Gideon Rosenberg, Nvidia’s deputy general counsel.
“We are truly inspired by the genuine care of our employees around the world.”
Or, 30, has been an engineer at Nvidia since April 2022, according to his LinkedIn page. He was captured by Hamas at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 along with his girlfriend Noa Argamani and around 240 others, some of whom have since been released.
Nvidia said employees had chosen to donate to organisations in the region including Asor Fund (JGive), American Friends of Magen David Adom, Doctors Without Borders, Friends of United Hatzalah, IsraAID (US) Global Humanitarian Assistance, Jewish Agency for Israel, World Central Kitchen and Zaka.
Nvidia also said it had donated hundreds of computers to families evacuated from the north and south of Israel, and provided thousands of hot meals from its Yokneam office cafeteria.
(This story has been corrected to clarify that donations were not made only to Israeli non-profits)
(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)