Eight HI aid trucks have entered Gaza

Since 7 October and the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas, around 19,667 people have been killed and more than 52,586 injured in the relentless bombing of Gaza by Israeli forces (as at 19 December). This Israeli offensive comes in the wake of a massive attack by Hamas on 7 October, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken hostage.

14,000 items ready for distribution, not enough to cover the needs of the 1.9 million displaced persons 

Eight HI trucks have entered the Gaza Strip to deliver aid to the population. 

With these latest deliveries, HI will be supplying 380 wheelchairs, 52 wheeled commodes, 250 crutches and 150 crutch tips to people with disabilities or injuries. Some 12,942 medical kits (bandages, first-aid kits, gauze compresses) are also being supplied to treat injuries.

A further 430 hygiene kits, 450 dignity kits and 150 toileting aids will be distributed to displaced families living in the emergency shelters. 

The urgent need to distribute essential goods

Since 7 October, the population of Gaza has been deprived of basic human services, including drinking water, food, electricity, telecommunications and fuel. The delivery of essential goods by humanitarian operators is a necessity, particularly for people with disability and injured persons, who are denied the right to flee or have all their medical aid abandoned.

HI has already distributed in the past two months almost all of the equipment and humanitarian aid items that were stored in its three emergency storage facilities in Gaza, assisting some 3,500 people.

After 25 days of waiting and lengthy negotiations, the arrival of those 8 trucks in the Gaza Strip represents hope for several hundred of people, focusing on people with disabilities or wounded, who are in urgent needs of those specific items

HI continues to call for safe and rapid humanitarian access

While the content of those trucks will support a small part of the affected population, this is far from being enough to ensure that affected civilians can be adequately protected. HI continues to be alarmed by the lack of safe humanitarian access and the limited numbers of trucks being able to enter in the Gaza strip on a daily basis. Safe, rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance for civilians is urgently needed to increase the quantity of aid to be bring into Gaza. In addition, aid should be allowed through all border crossing points available to ensure that assistance can reach the whole territory of the Gaza strip. Only a ceasefire could ensure that aid organisations provide the adequate support needed. 

Call for a ceasefire

HI is calling on all parties to the conflict to stop using explosive weapons in densely populated areas of Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Lebanon. Furthermore, HI supports #CeasefireNow, an open call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Israel to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and further loss of innocent life, and to ensure that humanitarian aid can be delivered quickly and safely.