Overseas Aid donation of £50,000 to give life-saving assistance to people in Gaza
A donation from Guernsey’s Overseas Aid & Development Commission will provide life-saving assistance to those in Gaza.
A disaster and emergency relief award of £50,000 is being made to Christian Aid. Of that, £35,000 will be spent on 6,000 kilos of dry milk powder.
The remainder will help to provide other basic needs, such as water, food, nappies and winter clothes for babies and the elderly living in shelters, or with host families, in the south of Gaza.
All of the supplies will act as a lifesaving and nutritional support measure for vulnerable people.
The commission said it was gravely concerned by the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
OA&DC president Chris Blin said: ‘The commission does not take a political position on such matters, but what it does take is a humanitarian one. There is currently great hardship for Gaza’s population, including children and the elderly, and the commission is pleased to make a contribution to help ease this human suffering.’
All of the supplies will be purchased from within Gaza itself, helping to ensure its safe delivery.
For example, the dry milk powder will be purchased from a food manufacturing company based in Gaza. All due diligence has been undertaken, with Christian Aid screening its suppliers and its long-standing and trusted partners in Gaza to ensure there is no profiteering or malicious actors involved.
Gaza Strip is about six times the land area of Guernsey, and before the war about two million people lived on the strip of land. This is about 31 times the size of Guernsey’s population.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week stated that more than 17,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since the start of Israel’s military operations.
This includes more than 4,000 women and 7,000 children.
Attacks have hit 339 education facilities, 26 hospitals, 56 healthcare facilities, 88 mosques and three churches.
More than 60% of Gaza’s housing has reportedly been destroyed or damaged – about 300,000 houses and apartments – and 85% of the population have been forced from their homes.
