Compared to four years ago, Zakat funds increased in record numbers last year, helping more than two million refugees across the world, according to UNHCR.
Bangladesh reports just under 1,000 Rohingya refugees are in the latest group heading to Bhashan Char, despite opposition from rights activists.
Muslim-majority Malaysia has long been a favoured destination for Rohingya Muslims seeking a better life after escaping a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar and, more recently, refugee camps in Bangladesh.
As Myanmar faces charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice over its brutal crackdown on the Rohingya, hundreds of thousands from the Muslim minority struggle in squalid Cox's Bazar camps where Covid-19 has reared its ugly head.
Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims are stranded on at least two trawlers between Bangladesh and Malaysia, rights groups recently said, as Southeast Asian governments tighten borders to keep out the new coronavirus.
Rohingya Muslims have been discarded by the international community and are at high risk for contracting Covid-19 in crowded living spaces.
"Our navy and coastguard are on alert and they have been instructed not to let these boats enter Bangladesh," Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen says of the refugee boats that were turned away by Malaysia.
The hearing held inside Congress was called by the US Commission on International Freedom, and also focussed on Myanmar's refusal to grant citizenship to the Rohingya as well as Bahrain's stripping of citizenship from activists of the Shia majority.
A spokesman for Myanmar's military placed the blame of the attack on the Arakan Army , an ethnic armed group seeking greater autonomy of the restive Rakhine state. A spokesman for the Arakan Army, denied responsibility.
Many of the 700,000-plus Rohingya who fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017 have tried to leave overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district on boats headed for Malaysia.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya to be "Bengalis" from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations.
Myanmar's gamble to send Suu Kyi to represent the country at the International Court of Justice has backfired.
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