Disaster Response Palestine Project #28637

Aid for Children and Families in Gaza

by Middle East Children's Alliance

Project Report | Sep 13, 2024
Health Center, Children's Nutrition, Polio Vaccine

By Josina Shields-Stromsness | MECA Program Director

Families receive free health services

All of us at MECA are thrilled to tell you that we have just opened a new health center in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.

Your contributions make it possible for more than 100 people a day to visit the center where they can see a general doctor, an obstetrician-gynecologist, a pharmacist, and a nurse. Plus, a dermatologist and an ear, nose and throat specialist come in to treat the infections that so many children and adults have from living in crowded tent camps without soap and water.

That’s not all!

Many children in Gaza were already deprived of adequate nourishment before the genocide began almost one year ago. Now, the needs are greater than ever. MECA is working with our longtime partner to examine, test, and treat malnourished kids under five through two clinics in central and southern Gaza.

MECA’s team of staff, partners, and volunteers are doing remarkable work, day after day, week after week, to meet the enormous needs in their Gaza communities. They are keeping people alive with food and water. They are organizing games that bring smiles to children’s faces. They are collecting garbage and installing latrines. Now, they are providing essential care, treating malnutrition in small children, infections, rashes and even providing polio vaccinations.

It's difficult to understand how our team in Gaza keeps going with all the horror around them and the terrible losses they are suffering themselves. But we are proud and grateful to be part of their work and we hope you are too.

Thank you.

P.S. Polio, a very contagious disease that often causes death and disability, was eradicated in Gaza 25 years ago. Now, several small children have gotten it. Our new health center is one of the locations providing vaccines to children in southern Gaza.

Providing first dose of Polio vaccine to children

New clinics diagnose & treat malnutrition

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Mar 18, 2024
Hot meals, clean drinking water & more for Gaza

By Josina Shields-Stromsness | MECA Program Director

Nov 17, 2023
Food, hygiene, medical aid & more for Gaza

By Josina Shields-Stromsness | MECA Program Director

We have delivered Food parcels to 243,100 people

Israel has been bombing Gaza since October 7, 2023. It has cut off electricity, food, water, and other basic necessities. Israeli government and military officials are openly talking about ethnic cleansing and they are bombing homes, schools, mosques, clinics and hospitals. Children, journalists, and medical workers have been killed and gravely injured.

The Middle East Children’s Alliance has a remarkable and courageous team on the ground made of staff, volunteers, and our partner organizations who are responding to the urgent needs of children and families under attack.

Supporting Displaced Families
MECA's team and partners in Gaza are procuring food and hygiene supplies from stores, warehouses, factories, and farmers and delivering them to displaced families EVERY SINGLE DAY. MECA’s network of grassroots community organizations throughout Gaza is able to reach displaced families who are with friends, relatives, neighbors, and in informal shelters like community centers and cafes.

To date we have delivered:
- Food parcels to 243,100 people with essential food staples and even fresh produce & poultry from farmers where it is available
- Hygiene kits to 173,500 people with soap, shampoo, wet wipes, toilet paper, diapers (as needed), and women's sanitary supplies
- 634,012 gallons of clean drinking water distributed to displaced families from MECA's water purification units, millions more gallons provided to families sheltering at UN schools where we have installed water purification units

Powering Hospitals

Gaza relies on Israel for 80% of its electricity. Since October 7, the Israeli government has cut off electricity to Gaza leaving everyone with only 3-4 hours of electricity each day supplied by the Gaza power plant. On October 11, the power plant ran out of fuel and has stopped running leaving much of Gaza in darkness.

MECA provided funds to three hospitals in Gaza to purchase emergency supplies of fuel for their generators to ensure they can continue treating patients during this emergency.

We've also provided a grant to one hospital to purchase additional medicine and medical supplies needed for the huge influx of injured patients.

Special support for children

"When we play during the session we forget the terrifying scenes, we want to play and enjoy our lives." - one of the children participating in psychosocial sessions in a shelter

In this emergency situation with the bombs still falling, we are unable to organize long-term mental health programs. But one of our local partners is providing psychosocial support to displaced children in shelters through group games and activities with a special emphasis on children with disabilities. Their trained staff are working in shelters in all three southern governates in Gaza.

MECA partners have also distributed 2,000 toys and coloring books to children in Gaza, including for injured children being treated at one of our partner hospitals.

Emergency Winter Relief

As the first rains hit Gaza in mid-November, MECA partners quickly sprang to action distributing plastic sheeting to cover broken windows, leaking roofs, and cover makeshift shelters for people outdoors. We also bought up additional blankets

To date, we have distributed
-500 large plastic sheets
-3400 blankets

We are starting distribution of warm clothes for 6,000 children in the coming days.

We have distributed 3,400 blankets

Some of the more than 2,000 toys we gave to kids

Distributing plastic sheets to keep out the rain

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