can provide life-saving essentials
can provide a family with life-saving food
can provide emergency medical supplies
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What is happening in Gaza right now?

UPDATE:

Simmering tensions in the Middle East appear to have tipped into an unprecedented escalation, worsening the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. Struggling civilians once more face the horror of major airstrikes, with a rapidly rising death toll and hundreds of thousands of people displaced with nowhere safe to go.

At least 30,330 Palestinians, including 13,230 children, and 8,860 women have been killed, 8,000 missing and more than 71,533 injured with this number expected to increase as airstrikes continue. Nearly 70% of deaths are children. Among the dead were 132 journalists, 340 healthcare workers, and 47 civil defence workers.

The strikes are thought to have forced more than 2,000,000 people to flee their homes. Seeking shelter in dozens of schools, they urgently need food and other basic survival items.

Islamic Relief is appalled by recent reports of deaths and violence and continues to strongly condemn any violence against civilians. We plead with all parties to exercise restraint to avoid further civilian casualties.

We have been providing humanitarian relief in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 1997, serving as a lifeline for communities struggling with the devastating effects of occupation, blockade and recurring conflict. As Palestinian families face fresh suffering in Gaza, Islamic Relief is calling on supporters to help us provide much-needed humanitarian aid.

With your support, Islamic Relief will remain a lifeline for Palestinian families. Please give generously to our Palestine Emergency Appeal now.

The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated places on Earth.

Gaza has been under a brutal Israeli blockade since 2007 and is widely described as the world’s largest open-air prison. The blockade denies 2.2 million people their fundamental rights and cuts them off from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and the wider world. It has devastated Gaza’s economy, fuelled poverty and unemployment and crippled essential services such as healthcare, education and water/sanitation.

A third of the people in Palestine live below the poverty line. Most people do not have enough food, 90% of available water is unfit for public consumption, and trauma is taking its toll on ordinary families. Much of the population relies on humanitarian aid from charities like Islamic Relief, just to survive.

Gaza’s healthcare system is particularly fragile, with overstretched and poorly-equipped health facilities struggling to meet rising needs. They too, rely on support from charities such as Islamic Relief.

Donate Zakat to Gaza Appeal

can contribute towards a cash grants for one household to purchase essentials for one month
can help repair a home severely damaged by airstrikes
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Why Gaza needs our help

The people of Gaza are having to deal with continuous nights of airstrikes due to ongoing conflict. Now is the time to help Gaza and its people.

After many years of conflict, Palestinians still feel unsafe in their own country. The economy has been damaged by political instability and constant conflict. The blockades in Gaza cause chaos on a daily basis. We’re providing vital health care to help vulnerable people rebuild their lives.

A third of the people in Palestine live below the poverty line. Thousands of families are struggling with financial hardship. Your donations can provide life-saving support. Donate now and help save lives.

Image: Aftermath of airstrikes in Gaza, Palestine

Why you should donate to Gaza today

As conditions rapidly deteriorate amid this latest escalation in hostilities, Islamic Relief remains steadfast in our determination to assist Palestinian families. Working closely with our local partners, we are preparing our humanitarian response, which is likely to initially focus on distributing medical supplies and survival items.

We have been providing humanitarian relief in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 1997, serving as a lifeline for communities struggling with the devastating effects of occupation, blockade and recurring conflict. As Palestinian families face fresh suffering in Gaza, Islamic Relief is calling on supporters to help us provide much-needed humanitarian aid.

With your support, Islamic Relief will remain a lifeline for Palestinian families. Please give generously to our Palestine Emergency Appeal now.

The situation in Gaza

Since 2007, Gaza has been under a land, sea and air blockade imposed by Israel. Gaza has been described as an “open-air prison”. Conditions in Gaza were dire even before the recent escalations in conflict, with occupation, blockade and recurring conflict causing deep poverty and suffering.

  • 80% of the population dependent on humanitarian assistance to survive.
  • 95% of people cannot access to clean water.
  • Nearly 50% of Gaza’s people do not have enough food.
  • 60% of children are anaemic and many children suffer from stunted growth due to malnutrition.

Islamic Relief are on the ground in Gaza

Islamic Relief has been working in Gaza since 1997. We’ve been providing vital support to vulnerable people through donations towards our Gaza relief fund. Our work is focused on getting food to those who need it most, and treating urgent health needs.

Your support for Gaza will help our teams to deliver vital medical supplies to patients and staff. We also provide key items; such as medicine, disposables, medical kits and food for all.

How your donations are supporting Gaza

Since 1997 Islamic Relief has invested almost £109 million in humanitarian and development programmes to support the Palestinian people.

  • Following the 22-day conflict in 2008 Islamic Relief delivered a £30 million emergency response and reconstruction programme in Gaza that included restoring intensive care and emergency departments in nine hospitals.
  • As part of our emergency response to the escalation of another conflict in 2012, we delivered £1 million worth of medical supplies to hospitals which allowed them to treat incoming casualties.
  • In 2014 in response to conflict once again, we supported over 15,000 displaced Palestinians with emergency aid including food and water, as well as providing medical equipment to hospitals and helping children get back to school.
  • In 2018, over 50 Palestinians were killed by gunfire, including an eight-month-old baby, and more than 2,700 people are injured in largely peaceful protests. Islamic Relief teams provided lifesaving medical supplies to support hospitals in Gaza as they struggled to treat survivors.
  • Islamic Relief responded to the Covid-19 outbreak in Gaza in 2020 by working to prevent the spread and providing additional support to families at greater risk. Our teams delivered food vouchers to tens of thousands of people losing out on paid work due to the pandemic. Hospitals, health centres and quarantine centres received essential equipment and our teams disinfected schools and hospitals to reduce the risk of infection.

Image: Islamic Relief Gaza team distributing emergency aid such as blankets, mattresses, food and fuel to families affected by the winter storms in Gaza

Islamic Relief’s focus now in Gaza

Our focus is now on priority health needs; such as the provision of medical supplies and equipment including medicines, disposable items, medical kits and food for patients and medical staff.

Should the conflict get worse and people become displaced, we will be supporting affected households and internally displaced people. We’ll provide food, hygiene kits and other essential non-food items.

Across the region, we’ve been heavily involved in the reconstruction of the Palestine Avenir Centre, working with children living with disabilities such as cerebral palsy. Now we are working to support the local health care system.

We’re ready to respond by supporting hospitals deliver medical help quickly in order to help save as many lives as possible should any further emergency erupt.

By supporting both medical staff and households across Gaza, we’re working to support as many people in crisis as possible.

How you can help Gaza

Even though the conflict is ongoing, our teams are on the ground ready to help Gaza now. We will provide lifesaving care in areas where the health system is struggling to cope. Gaza’s health system is under a lot of pressure because of staff shortages and lack of medical supplies.

Around half of the people living in Palestine are in need of vital aid and water. Despite electricity shortages across Gaza, we’re working to support the people in need across the region.

For just £150 you can provide psychosocial support to 6 children affect by conflict. Donate towards our Gaza relief fund and help save lives now.

Why the people of Gaza need your help

With almost half the population across the Palestinian Territories in need of humanitarian aid, your donations are desperately needed to help rebuild the lives of those most vulnerable across Gaza. Mohammed is just one of the many people Islamic Relief supports in Gaza, however thousands more are in desperate need of your support.

 

I have lived with loss several times in my life. My dad passed away and I lost my sight when I was young. But I never lost my resolve or let my disability prevent me from developing myself or my community. I don’t ask others for help if I can do something myself. Every morning I make my own food and prepare for school like my sisters and brothers. When I want to hail a taxi, I try several times before asking someone to assist. Once a week I play football. Thank Allah, I am one of the top students at my school and I get the highest grades. I adore the Arabic language and that encourages me to write. Recently I got first class in a story-writing and poetry competition at the Gaza governorate level. After the death of my father, Islamic Relief sponsored me. The support pays for my basic needs, covering the cost of transport and everything I need for school.

Mohammad, aged 17, is an orphan from Gaza sponsored by Islamic Relief.
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