Gaza: Action is needed as well as aid, warns CAFOD

The temporary ceasefire in Gaza is giving CAFOD’s partners much-needed space to deliver food, water, emergency supplies and medical care to people in desperate need – but CAFOD warns that aid alone is not enough. The agency is appealing for donations, as part of the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Gaza Crisis appeal, but is also asking its supporters to email Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, to urge him to push for a just and lasting peace.

“In the short term, it is vital that we deliver food, water, healthcare and emergency supplies,” says Mary Lucas, CAFOD’s Representative for the Middle East. “A quarter of Gaza’s population have been displaced by the recent fighting, hospitals and health clinics have been overwhelmed, and sewage plants are not functioning – which creates a serious risk of disease spreading. But even before the latest round of fighting, Gaza was in a state of crisis, with 80 per cent of the population reliant on aid. That is why we are urging the UK government, alongside its European partners, to apply pressure on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to break the cycle of violence.”

CAFOD is calling on the UK government to:

- Push for a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire by all parties and humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.

- Work with the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to agree long-term measures to end the suffering and deal with the root causes of the conflict, including an end to the occupation of Palestinian territory, to the building of illegal settlements and to the closure of Gaza.

CAFOD has worked with Christian and Muslim partner organisations in Gaza since 2006, providing medical support, clean drinking water, counselling to help children overcome trauma, and encouraging women’s savings groups. The agency also supports a number of partners in Israel.

In response to the current conflict, CAFOD’s partners in Gaza are supplying food, water, basic household items and medical supplies to displaced families.

Mahmoud Majdalawi, who works for Caritas Jerusalem, says: “We work every day because the people need us. Conditions in the schools [where people are taking shelter] are terrible. You have 150 people in every classroom. They have no water, blankets or provisions. We are facing a health disaster.

“People just want a normal life. They want to be able to work, to have clean water, to be able to travel. We need to see an end to the blockade.”

 For more information and to donate to CAFOD's work in Gaza see: www.cafod.org.uk/