Conflict in the Middle East has devastated lives, and DEC charities and their local partners are continuing to provide lifesaving support to people in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Syria, as they have been doing throughout the crisis. They continue to adapt their programmes to ensure those who need it most are supported, and are working to respond to people’s changing needs.
Gaza
Currently the whole of Gaza is at risk of famine, and people are facing extreme levels of food insecurity. Food supplies are desperately low, leaving many families without access to daily meals or even bread. People are dying from starvation and malnutrition.
The extraordinary challenges around aid delivery in Gaza have had a devastating impact on the work of DEC member charities and their local partners. With extremely limited supplies of food, fuel and medicine, they have been unable to carry out much of their lifesaving work. Staff and their families are dealing with unimaginably harsh conditions and facing significant risks every day.
They are now working to make the most of temporary pauses in the conflict to deliver more aid and reach more of those in desperate need. Safe and sustained access for humanitarian supplies has never been so urgent.
Jamil Sawalmeh is Country Director for ActionAid Palestine. He describes the conditions that his colleagues in Gaza are working in:
"When aid is not getting in, that's where we are most needed... that's where money becomes the fine line between life and death."
During the temporary ceasefire earlier in the year, many DEC charities were able to replenish much-needed supplies such as food, medicine and essential hygiene items. Although these are now running dangerously low, they helped to sustain some operations over the past months.
“The ceasefire period was very important, because we had a significant amount of supplies that have come into Gaza, which actually made it possible for people to survive for 60 days. If we did not have that ceasefire period, I don't think many people in Gaza would have lasted a couple of weeks.”
- Jamil Sawalmeh, Country Director for ActionAid Palestine
Some communities have also benefited from longer-term progress made during that time, such as water system repairs and support for local farmers.