UMCOR responds to Gaza relief needs
Action by Churches Together staff unload
and distribute nutritional biscuits and fortified milk in the Gaza
Strip. A UMNS photo courtesy of ACT International.
A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
Jan. 27, 2009
With a tentative cease-fire holding between Israel and Hamas, humanitarian organizations are stepping up their assistance to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Children
at the Jabalya Internally Displaced Persons camp in Gaza eat food
provided by ACT member DanChurchAid. A UMNS Web-only photo by
DanChurchAid, ACT International.
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Action by Churches Together, representing more than 130 church-based
relief agencies, including the United Methodist Committee on Relief and
Church World Service, has issued an appeal for $4 million to provide
immediate relief there. UMCOR has requested that its $50,000 grant to ACT be
implemented through the Department of Services to Palestinian Refugees
of the Middle East Council of Churches. Melissa Crutchfield, who
oversees international disaster response for UMCOR, said Jan. 26 that
the organization is a “long-term trusted partner” of The United
Methodist Church. Another $50,000 grant has been made to Muslim Aid,
also an UMCOR partner.
ACT estimates that 50,000 people are homeless and 400,000 are
without running water. The coalition has targeted some 15,000 displaced
people to receive food distribution and already has gathered
nutritional biscuits, water, milk, milk powder and medicine.
The United Nations reported Jan. 26 that it had 10 distribution
centers open and was feeding 25,000 people per day. The U.N. World Food
Program also has distributed 95 tons of food aid to nearly 6,000 people
in Gaza City and North Gaza. Critical needs include spare parts and
fuel for the power plant, hospitals and water and sewage treatment
facilities, and construction materials for rebuilding.
Unrestricted access for humanitarian groups is critical as
well. The U.N. press release said such groups “have faced unprecedented
denial of access to Gaza” by Israel since Nov. 5 and that access
remains unreliable. Liv Steimoeggen, the ACT representative in
Jerusalem, has called for open borders for humanitarian relief, along
with safe and free distribution.
According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, about 280 children were among the 1,285 Palestinians killed in the 22-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Associated Press reported. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, also were killed during the fighting.
Improving food security
Working with UMCOR and other ACT partners, the Department of
Services to Palestinian Refugees plans to improve food security through
cash grants, cash for work or food to families; help cover health care
fees and medical needs for the poorest families; tend to trauma and
stress faced by families coming to the clinics; rehabilitate health
facilities; and improve the livelihood of farming families. Special attention will be given throughout to women and children.
A
Gaza City clinic run by the department was destroyed in an Israeli air
strike, and its staff members are temporarily working out of two other
clinics in Rafah and Daraj, according to David Wildman, an executive
with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.
Last fall, the Board of Global Ministries provided $10,000 grants to
the Gaza Community Mental Health Program and Atfaluna Society for Deaf
Children. Buildings housing both programs were damaged during the
recent conflict, Wildman reported.
Muslim Aid has provided cooked food to about 1,200 displaced people
taking shelter at two U.N.-designated schools in Gaza City. Medicine
was delivered to the trauma center at Al Shifa Hospital. The
humanitarian agency also is planning to assist with water purification
in southern Gaza near Rafah and the border with Egypt, according to
Crutchfield.
Although there has been suffering on both sides of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, civilians in Gaza are particularly
vulnerable because they cannot leave the area and may have limited
access to food, water and basic medical care. In addition to working
with longstanding humanitarian partners, UMCOR said it receives
frequent reports about existing conditions from three United Methodist
missionaries based in the region.
Concern about restrictions
In early February, Wildman will attend a meeting in Bethlehem
of the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum, which was launched by the
World Council of Churches in 2007. Forum participants will meet with
Palestinian Christians to better coordinate ongoing ecumenical efforts
in light of the current crisis, he explained.
“One of the big issues: If there is a full cease-fire, there
should be no restrictions on humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” Wildman
said. Restrictions on access will result in more suffering by
civilians, he explained.
United Methodists can contribute to UMCOR’s humanitarian work in
Gaza by making donations to “Middle East Emergency, UMCOR Advance
#601740.” Donors can place checks in church collection plates; go to www.umcor.org and click on “Gaza Crisis”; call (888) 252-6174; or mail a check to Advance GCFA, P.O. Box 9068, GPO, New York, NY 10087-9068.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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