Whichever aid organization you ask, whether it is HEKS, Caritas or Terre des hommes, the answer is always the same: the Palestinians urgently need electricity and water. Because without electricity nothing works anymore. No light, no kettle, no internet, no devices in the hospitals. And without clean drinking water, people contract all kinds of diseases and infections.
In fact, there is a lack of everything in the Gaza Strip, say the non-profit organizations (NGOs): food, medicine, hygiene products, warm clothing for the winter, safe and winter-proof emergency shelters. “So far, the approved aid deliveries have barely met the need. The space for humanitarian work is extremely precarious,” Caritas, which is represented on the ground with its partner organization Catholic Relief Services (CRS), wrote when asked.
There are five reasons why hardly any aid can reach the Gaza Strip.
Gaza is closed
Providing relief supplies and services to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip is more difficult than during the war in Ukraine. Because as Martina Ziegerer of the Zewo Foundation says: “In the war in Ukraine, for example, organizations can support people during their escape.”
However, this is not possible in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian territory is virtually closed off. People can only escape within Gaza. If aid organizations want to help, they must do so directly in the war zone, as HEKS (Aid of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Switzerland) and Terre des hommes confirm. This is not only dangerous, but also difficult. Because aid organizations are only allowed to enter the Gaza Strip to a limited extent.
Employees are at risk
Terre des hommes (Tdh) was present in the war zone with eleven employees from the start. Because they are Palestinians who have been working for the children’s rights organization for years. Her office was based in northern Gaza and was destroyed. That is why they had to flee to southern Gaza, where they are now staying with relatives or in UNRWA shelters. Many of them have now lost close relatives, friends and acquaintances. Nevertheless, they continue to try to ensure that the right aid supplies from Gaza reach the right places.
Jezerca Tigani is Tdh’s operations manager for the Middle East and is in close contact with employees on the ground: “They report constant bombings that just won’t stop, especially at night.” The situation is confusing and walking around is dangerous.
Caritas also sounds precarious: “About 60 percent of the employees of our partner organization had to flee the armed conflict themselves and many of them lost close family members.”
The employees of the aid organizations stationed in the Gaza Strip are just as affected by the war as the civilian population. Dieter Wüthrich of HEKS summarizes their situation as follows: “Continued bombing, unprotected escape routes and the still drastically limited supply of vital goods combine to create a humanitarian catastrophe of almost unimaginable proportions.”
In addition, people are traumatized by the war and need care from psychologically trained specialists. Tdh also reports on completely traumatized children who can no longer speak or can harm themselves.
The HEKS therefore tries, in collaboration with its local partner organizations, to organize psychological support from specialists and leisure activities for the children. However, this is currently only possible in the south of the Gaza Strip. And because of the ongoing fighting, this is also “very risky” for workers, as Wüthrich says.
Communication channels are destroyed
Where is it safe now? Where are those who need help? Which goods do they need most urgently? Which transport routes are passable? Aid agencies need answers to all these questions so that they can support the Palestinians at all. But the exchange of information is limited.
The war has largely destroyed Gaza’s infrastructure. Communication via telephone network or internet is difficult. Jezerca Tigani from Tdh and her team try to reach their employees in Gaza several times a day. “Waiting for a sign of life is very stressful,” says Tigani.
Not all relief supplies are allowed
“It is reported that more than a third of hospitals in the Gaza Strip and almost two-thirds of primary care clinics have already had to close,” Caritas said. There are also reports of operations that have to be performed without anesthesia. Jezerca Tigani from Terre des hommes can confirm this and she states:
It is difficult to say who decides how many trucks carrying humanitarian aid are allowed to pass per day. This is also why Tdh was only able to distribute nine truckloads of aid in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. There are currently six more trucks waiting at the Gaza border.
Criticism endangers humanitarian aid
Watson contacted Zewo, HEKS, Caritas and Terre des hommes and asked who was responsible for this precarious situation for humanitarian aid. None of the aid organizations wanted or could answer this question. Dieter Wüthrich of HEKS comes closest to formulating criticism: “The Palestinians’ right to self-determination and their own state has been postponed for years. “The international community has focused primarily on the symptoms of the conflict and not on the underlying causes.”
But Wüthrich also avoids naming a party in the conflict. The aid organizations are not only in dangerous territory in the war zone, but also in terms of communication. Otherwise they could endanger the well-being of the civilian population and their employees.
They therefore all demand only two things: an immediate ceasefire and compliance with international humanitarian law.
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
