GAZA IN CRISIS

Right now, our partners in Gaza are delivering hot meals, basic food kits and clothing. We are offering mental health support and counselling to thousands of people who have experienced daily terror and have been severely traumatised.

ActionAid is working with long-term partners in Gaza to deliver mental health support and urgent medical care. We will deliver emergency food, water, medical and shelter supplies, along with essential health services, supporting women’s leadership in this response effort.

ActionAid has local staff on the ground in Gaza and are working with long term, trusted partners to provide food and relief items to families that they can reach. Our local partners, such as Al Awda Hospital, are delivering vital health services, while others like WEFAQ are providing psycho-social support and meals to thousands of people who have been displaced and are currently seeking shelter.

While there are numerous challenges delivering aid at the moment, we are working with UN agencies to access and support the distribution of the limited aid arriving in Gaza and drawing on local resources and capability to support people who need urgent care now and into the future.

We have robust systems and checks to guarentee funds reach the right people.

ActionAid is an independent, non-partisan, and human rights-focused organisation. We work with local humanitarian partners, who are transparent and accountable, to provide assistance directly to communities. We do not fund violence of any kind. We have worked in the occupied Palestinian territories since 2007 and partner with women led and youth organisations to help the most vulnerable and marginalised people. We support the long-term rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, an end to occupation and blockades and respect for international law.

ActionAid Australia is accredited through the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and meets the government’s high standards to ensure money reaches the right people. All of our partners are subject to extensive due diligence checks and our rigorous counter terrorism processes in Palestine are independently audited by DFAT every year.

Since 2007, people in Gaza have been living under a blockade, meaning people and goods are prevented from freely entering and leaving Gaza by land, sea or air. This has severely limited necessities like food, medicine, and building materials from getting into Gaza.

The blockade makes life nearly impossible for the more than 2 million people who live there — 1.5 million of whom are refugees. Most people have little or no access to essentials such as electricity, water, and sewage removal.

Half the population of Gaza are children. Many have experienced conflict for a large part of their life and are battling with severe trauma and emotional distress. 800,000 of Gaza’s children have never known a life without the blockade or experienced a normal childhood. Their education has been affected too: almost 250 schools were damaged in the violent offensive in 2021, many after having been repaired or rebuilt from 2014 where more than 250 schools were destroyed or damaged.

The blockade, repeated violent offensives and major escalations with attacks from the air, land and sea have had a devastating impact on Gaza’s economy and increased poverty dramatically. Unemployment rates in Gaza were already amongst the highest in the world with 70% of young graduates unemployed prior to the current conflict.

Within this context, ActionAid has worked to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. We have also supported women to learn new skills so they can earn an income independently.

ActionAid stands in solidarity with innocent civilians whose lives have been torn apart due to the escalating violence in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. We condemn violence against civilians in any form. We were horrified to hear reports of the attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians as most Australians were. We are also deeply concerned by the growing numbers of civilians killed in Gaza.

ActionAid only responds to humanitarian emergencies in countries or regions where we have an existing presence or long-term partnerships with local organisations. We do not have an office in Israel and are not best placed to respond. ActionAid focuses its efforts on countries in the global south and where the government has called for international assistance due to large scale humanitarian need and suffering. As a wealthy nation, the Israeli government is able to respond to the needs of its population, just as the Australian government does when we face a disaster.

Sadly, the conflict which has escalated since 7 October 2023 has had a disproportionate impact on women and their families in Gaza, West Bank and now Lebanon. ActionAid has been working for many years in these regions to address high levels of poverty and displacement.

Three million people have been displaced in these two countries alone and both situations have been declared humanitarian emergencies by the United Nations, with people in Gaza now facing starvation.

As a result, we are supporting humanitarian response to the growing number of civilians impacted in this crisis with a focus on women and girls.

ActionAid has a long-standing history of working in Palestine, rooted in the early humanitarian efforts led by our legacy organisation, Austcare. Through this historical connection, we have supported communities in the occupied Palestinian territories for decades, focusing on sustainable and lasting change.

This conflict is incredibly complex but while innocent civilians are being impacted we will continue to speak up for their protection.