Global Communities Responds to the Crisis in Gaza

Silver Spring, MD – The Global Communities team in Gaza continues to provide emergency assistance to those who have been affected by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. To date, Global Communities assistance has reached 42,000 displaced people in Gaza. The aid has included, for example, 2,900 ready-to-eat and 1,600 dried food packages, designed to feed a family for 4-6 days; 5,700 hygiene kits, 19,000 liters of water, 3,250 bed covers and 4,800 pillow cases.

Mohammed Al Shareef, Country Representative for Global Communities in Gaza says: “Unless there is a long-term solution that addresses the sources of violence, we will see this same conflict erupt and re-erupt as it has done three times in six years. We will see more loss of innocent lives, more loss of livelihoods and a continual deterioration of living conditions for the people of Gaza. Unless we invest in long-term peace and development, with each passing month we will see conditions worsen until the Gaza Strip becomes the scene of an intractable humanitarian catastrophe.”

Global Communities’ Gaza team has worked in Gaza since 1994. Since then, they have run a microfinance program and annually provide food aid to 85,000 of the most vulnerable people in the Strip. They have also run infrastructure and urban agriculture programs, and the team has responded to both the previous conflicts in 2008-09 and 2012, providing food aid, shelter and livelihoods work for those most impacted.

In the last month, more than 1,900 Palestinians have been killed and today 370,000 people remain displaced from their homes. Global Communities’ aid is targeting those displaced families.

For more information, contact Erik Wadkins, Media Officer, at [email protected].