As the escalation of hostilities continues unabated in Gaza, ActionAid is concerned at the intensified humanitarian situation, where over two million people are facing a humanitarian crisis. The siege announced earlier this week has left people without reliable access to food, fuel, electricity, and water. Today, the Gaza power authority has said that the sole power station has stopped working. This means that people are without electricity and fuel, and critically hospitals – which are already running out of crucial medical supplies – are unable to provide vital, lifesaving health services.
Arthur Larok, Secretary General of ActionAid International, said:
“We are deeply saddened by the unfolding humanitarian situation in Gaza and are calling for the urgent creation of UN humanitarian corridors to get aid through to desperate citizens, especially women and children. Key public services, like hospitals which are already overwhelmed by people requiring urgent medical attention.”
Amjad Al-Shawa, of the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza, said:
“The conditions are unprecedented in the history of our humanitarian work. What is happening in Gaza is continuous bombing, and blockages to food, water, medicine, fuel, and electricity due to the siege. Hospitals are full of [injured] patients, and they are in danger under horrific humanitarian conditions and lack of basic services. Medical staff and ambulances are being directly targeted. There are more than 263,000 people who are internally displaced.”
The people in Gaza have been under a sixteen-year-old air, road, and sea blockade that has made it difficult to access basic human needs and services. The latest siege has worsened the conditions of already strained public infrastructure.
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Notes to editor
Spokespeople are available:
- Nadim Zaghloul – ActionAid Palestine Country Director, currently in the West Bank
- Wisam Shweiki – Head of Programmes at ActionAid Palestine, currently in the West Bank
- Cristina Muñoz – Director at ActionAid Spain, currently in Madrid
- Gemma Cosialls – Country Manager at ActionAid Spain, currently in Jerusalem
- Samah Kassab – Project Manager, currently in Gaza
- Razmi Farook – Director of Asia and Humanitarian at ActionAid International, currently in Colombo
For media requests, please email Christal.James@actionaid.org or call 704 665 9743.
About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 15 million people living in more than 40 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.