Gaza update: Can DEC charities still provide aid?

The extraordinary challenges around aid delivery in Gaza are having a devastating impact on the work of DEC member charities and their local partners. The catastrophic humanitarian crisis is deteriorating rapidly, and every day is a struggle to survive. 

The whole of Gaza is on the brink of famine and aid supplies are running dangerously low. The levels of hunger are growing more extreme by the day. Reports of children and babies dying from malnutrition and starvation are rising fast. The health system has been decimated, and a dire shortage of fuel means the few hospitals still operating are being forced to make impossible decisions about the treatment they can provide. The remaining supplies of medicine and baby formula have almost gone.

In the past weeks, a surge in mass casualty incidents linked to new aid distribution sites has overwhelmed Gaza’s shattered healthcare system even further, pushing it past its limit.⁣ DEC charities and their local partners are working separately to those distribution sites to deliver the support they are still able to, as safely as they can, such as water trucking and medical care. 

Staff and their families are dealing with unimaginably harsh conditions and facing significant risks as they carry out their life-saving work. Increased and safe access for humanitarian aid is urgently needed to allow DEC charities and their local partners to reach more of those in need. 

How are DEC charities supporting people ?

Even in these dire circumstances they are still finding ways to provide support. Each day brings new and unexpected challenges, and they are constantly adapting their operations to deliver whatever aid they can - as they have done throughout the crisis.

With extremely limited supplies entering Gaza, DEC charities and their local partners are working tirelessly to meet some basic needs. Cash assistance is providing a lifeline to many as local market prices spiral, enabling families to buy some food and essential items when they become available. Trained medical staff are providing vital care in field hospitals and clinics, even with medicine supplies running critically low.  

 DEC charities and their local partners are working hard to continue delivering water, despite shortages of fuel and the increasing challenges moving around Gaza. In some areas water trucks remain people's only source of clean water.  

Addressing severe shortages of food is an urgent concern. Although a few DEC charities and their local partners are still distributing some hot meals and food parcels, without supplies entering Gaza, many are now unable to provide the food that so many had been relying on.  

Examples of how DEC charities and their local partners have supported people in Gaza over the past weeks include:

• ActionAid has been working with its local partner organisation to deliver hot meals through community kitchens.
   
• Concern Worldwide and its local partner have been delivering clean water to displaced families through water trucks.
   
• The British Red Cross is supporting its local partner, the Palestine Red Crescent Society, to provide medical care to some of the many sick and injured. 
   
• Oxfam is delivering food parcels to people living in displacement camps. 

Find out more about how DEC charities are providing aid as the crisis evolves here.

Donations to the DEC Middle East Humanitarian Appeal are making a difference even in these extraordinarily desperate circumstances. More funds can help to ensure DEC charities and their local partners are ready to scale up their response when an opportunity arises.