Send Urgent Aid to Civil Society Groups in Gaza

We write this report as the famine has been officially confirmed in Gaza City according to the IPC (The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) analysis and the intense attacks on Gaza City by the Israeli military have begun with an aim to reoccupy the Strip.

Since our last report in February during the ceasefire, we have seen the rapid deterioration of the situation – the breaking of ceasefire in March, the total blockade of aid including food and medicine, and the dismantling of the humanitarian aid mechanism by the UN agencies and international organizations to be replaced by the militarized Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Amidst the worsening conditions, our Gaza partners have not stopped their work to support their community.  We have recently sent another installment of funds raised from our campaign (we pool the donations until they reach a certain amount), and below is their report from on the ground.

ATFALUNA SOCIETY

Atfaluna has been running the community kitchen to deliver daily hot meals to families with and without disabled persons, striving to provide food security under the extremely challenging circumstances.  Psychosocial support remains integral part of their work, and its child protection unit offers workshops, emotional aid, safe spaces for deaf children and their families especially during displacement and trauma.   Atfaluna also continues to provide education to 3,000 children integrating children with and without disabilities.  Atfaluna Crafts, their income-generation project, continues to runs workshops in wood carpentry, ceramics, and traditional embroidery.

The Audiology & Speech Pathology Unit has dramatically scaled up amid the war: screening over 36,000 individuals, diagnosing and fitting 1,700 hearing aids, conducting 1,358 ENT referrals and 1,204 speech therapy sessions, and distributing 10,783 hearing aid batteries.  They also provided robust early identification services that ensured timely intervention for hearing issues by reaching out to more than 12,000 children, leading to referrals for diagnostics and auditory brainstem tests.  Atfaluna would like to allocate our latest donation towards the audiology and speech therapy interventions.

SULAFA EMBROIDERY CENTRE

Sulafa has continued its craft production out of their locations in Deir Al-Balah in the middle area and Gaza City in the north, providing embroidery work to 471 women across the Strip.  Sulafa staff have managed to source fabric and threads from local businesses that still have some supplies available although the prices have more than doubled or tripled from before the war.  Sulafa is also working to repair their damaged facility in Gaza City, and intends to allocate part of our latest donations towards the repair costs in order to fully resume their activities.  Sulafa also plans to allocate the funds towards salaries and purchase of materials.

Your donation, no matter the amount, means so much to our Gaza partners.  Thank you for your continued support that has helped them sustain their work.