Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has donated $1.5 million to the Palestinian cause in a move to alleviate the suffering of people in the besieged Gaza Strip.   He allocated the money to the Palestinians during the holy month of Ramadan.  The soccer player has, on several occasions, denounced Israel's atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Back in 2012, Ronaldo auctioned off his Golden Boot -- the prestigious award given to the best European strikers of the season -- to raise funds that were later donated to Palestinian children.   The following year, in March 2013, at the end of the match between Portugal and Israel for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Ronaldo refused to exchange his shirt with an Israeli player.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since June 2007.  The blockade has caused a decline in the standard of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

Palestinians have held weekly rallies along the Gaza border to protest the siege on the enclave and demand the right for refugees to return to their homes they were forced to leave during the 1948 creation of Israel.