The situation in the Palestinian territory of Gaza worsens each day. “Severe malnutrition is spreading among children faster than aid can reach them,” notes Edouard Beigbeder, Middle East and North Africa regional director of the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 2.1 million people trapped in the Gaza war zone are facing another killer on top of bombs and bullets: starvation. “We are now witnessing a deadly surge in malnutrition-related deaths,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO, said in a July 23 media release.
Large humanitarian relief operations active in the Gaza strip include the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is operated by Israeli military forces in the south out of Rafah in partnership with the U.S. and the United Nations, which has been in Gaza providing basic necessities, education and health care services with Palestinian partners for many years.
Basic needs met on site
Currently, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) partners with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) to bring much-needed food and water rations to Palestinian families in the refugee and displacement camps where they are living.
Your gifts on UMCOR Sunday helps support the foundation for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to share God’s love with communities everywhere.
IOCC contracts with a local commercial kitchen to cook and package hot meals for the camp. This ensures that healthy, fresh food is distributed, minimizing contamination and spoilage. More than 3,500 beneficiaries received daily meals for several months.
IOCC takes the food to families who come to an organized central, safe place in their camp to eat or to pick up food without confusion or fighting and with assurance there will be enough for today and tomorrow. This method also provides work and therefore income for workers in the host community.
In addition to the meals provided each day, training sessions on health, nutrition and hygiene helped displaced families reassess their current situations and discover alternative ways to feed their families and keep them healthy once the UMCOR project drew to a close.
Most recent grant in Central Gaza
The program at the IDP camp at the beginning of the year was successful, so UMCOR has doubled its support for IOCC as it opens another relief site in another Central Gaza location. For this project, IOCC is partnering with a Palestinian women’s organization.
This camp hosts a large population of residents and tens of thousands of displaced families. IOCC is concentrating on shelters for the displaced and the women’s group is currently organizing the list of who should receive this aid – those with few resources left – and suppliers of fresh food and the cooking location are being contracted.
Regular sessions of Psychosocial First Aid (PFA) conducted by specialists will be offered to parents and other adults, giving them a safe space for learning, sharing their experiences and strengthening their resilience to the trauma they must survive.
Throughout this crisis, UMCOR finds hope in people working together for the common good and depends on the faithfulness of partners who know the populations they serve. Human dignity, kindness, just methods of distribution and reaching people where they shelter are hallmarks of UMCOR’s work and an expression of God’s love for all people in need.
excerpt from a story by Christie R. House, consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.
This story shows the impact of UMCOR Sunday—one of six United Methodist Special Sundays with offerings—to ensure that help and hope reach those in crisis. Your gifts cover the administrative costs of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), so that 100% of other donations can go directly to disaster response and humanitarian aid. Together, we make it possible for the Church to respond swiftly and faithfully when the world needs care most.
When you give generously on UMCOR Sunday, you sustain the ministry that enables the Church to bring God’s love and practical help to disaster-stricken communities.
