“Fuel must be allowed to enter Gaza as soon as possible because I don’t think patients and hospitals can hold out much longer,” is the warning today from Christian Aid’s local partner in Gaza.
The intervention comes as just 33 lorries carrying food, medicine and other supplies entered Gaza from Egypt on Sunday. Prior to the hostilities, the UN says an average of 500 truckloads entered Gaza every working day.
Dr Hassan, who runs the chronic disease centre for Christian Aid’s local partner Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), explains: “If fuel totally runs out in Gaza it will be a catastrophe. So many patients will die, especially those in intensive care units who are relying on ventilators, which will stop working without electricity. The hospitals will become a place where patients are only sent to the morgue.”
Communications were restored to most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people on Sunday after over a day without phone and internet services amid further bombardment. The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll among Palestinians has passed 8,000, mostly women and children, as of 29 October.
Christian Aid’s Head of Middle East Policy and Advocacy, William Bell, has now been able to hear from most Christian Aid’s partners since communications were restored. He said: “We first heard from them again at around 3am Sunday morning. While they were relieved to be able to communicate to the outside world, for many it also meant hearing bad news about family and friends who had been killed.
“We are hearing that airstrikes are hitting closer to hospitals, places where the wounded should feel safe and tens of thousands are seeking refuge. This horrific violence and tragic loss of life must end now.
“While our partners in Gaza continue to respond as best they can, to respond at scale we need unfettered humanitarian access with water and electricity reconnected. Only a full ceasefire will deliver aid safely and effectively.”
Christian Aid has already committed a quarter of a million pounds to programme funds from their Middle East crisis appeal. The humanitarian agency is supporting local partners in providing mobile medical and psychological care, cash transfers to people displaced in Khan Younis, and supporting the small Christian community and their Muslim neighbours who are sheltering in Saint Porphyrius church.
Alongside over 20 church leaders and Christian organisations, Christian Aid is also demanding the release of all Israeli hostages alongside unequivocal support for the International Criminal Court to carry out an independent investigation into all war crimes to ensure accountability.
ENDS.
Notes to editors:
For more information on Christian Aid’s joint statement with church leaders and Christian organisations, please see here.
Background:
Christian Aid has been working with local partners in the Middle East since the early 1950s. Since the current crisis began, these organisations have been responding as best they can with emergency first aid; food, from local suppliers and farmers; and other essential supplies, including water and sanitation kits.
In Gaza, Christian Aid has already transferred the funds for:
- Cash transfers to people recently displaced in Khan Younis. This was so successful that the partner immediately asked if we could do the same project again.
- Medical support, including paying for mobile treatment for chronic illnesses for displaced people and wound dressing for those who require their wounds to be dressed to reduce the chance of infection.
In Gaza, Christian Aid is now preparing to transfer the funds for:
- Distribution of a wide range of Non-Food Items (that are available in the market) to support those sheltering in Gaza City (3,500-5,000 people). This is primarily focused on people, including the small Christian community in Gaza, who are sheltering in Saint Porphyrius church, which was hit on Friday 29 October.
- Staff welfare and basic needs. Cash grants to staff, all of whom are displaced. Many have had their homes destroyed completely or partially. Also, a fund for psychosocial support staff. Two ‘pilots’ for addressing basic needs using existing local mechanisms: 1) developing a model for water distribution for hygiene with well owners across Gaza, and 2) working with local farmers who are still risking their lives to tend to their crops on the distribution of vegetables to people across Gaza.
