Global Communities’ Response to the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

The escalating conflict in Gaza is causing a drastic deterioration of humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip. Between July 7 and 14, 1,361 people in Gaza were injured, more than 138 civilians were killed, and 17,000 people were displaced due to damage to their homes or through fleeing the bombing. There is a rapidly growing healthcare crisis, with the wounded and traumatized unable to get the help they need.

Global Communities is responding, as we did before in the 2008-09 and 2012 conflicts, to the needs of the most vulnerable people affected by the conflict. Global Communities will provide food assistance to internally displaced and vulnerable families, domestic and personal hygiene kits as well as other essential non-food items, shelter kits for homeless families, and psychosocial support for some of the 25,000 traumatized children in Gaza.

Global Communities has worked continuously in Gaza for 20 years. Today we provide assistance to many of the 60% of the population that is food insecure, through the UN World Food Programme, and in recent years have developed kitchen gardens, undertaken home repairs for vulnerable families, provided shelters, as well as running a microfinance program that supports homeowners and entrepreneurs.

Global Communities knows the communities well, and we work within all legal parameters, directly identifying and vetting beneficiaries to ensure that the most vulnerable receive the assistance they need.
This current crisis comes atop a protracted humanitarian crisis. Of the 1.7 million people in the densely packed Gaza Strip, 57% are under the age of 18. Prior to the current conflict, 39% were unemployed and lived below the poverty line. Farming and fishing are heavily restricted, sewage is untreated and flows directly into the fishing grounds, and the whole Strip has lived under a heavy blockade since 2007, restricting movement of people and goods.