World Vision began providing food aid for more than 3,000 people in Gaza today, as aid trickles in to help children and families struggling to survive in the aftermath of the military operation by Israel.
“Given the challenges that we have faced in distributing aid in Gaza due to the fighting, it is crucial that we immediately reach out in any way we can,” said Charles Clayton, National Director of World Vision Jerusalem-West Bank-Gaza. “This will provide much needed relief to the most vulnerable children and their families while we await arrival of our full food distributions.”
World Vision has partnered with a local church in Gaza City to distribute food vouchers to families. Each voucher can be redeemed at a local supplier in exchange for a parcel including oil, canned tuna and rice, which will provide enough for a family to eat for three weeks. Each family will also receive an illustrated brochure in Arabic that warns them about the dangers of unexploded ordnance and how to recognize it. Unexploded ordnance is particularly dangerous to children as it is often small and mistaken for toys.
The voucher system has allowed a jump-start to providing emergency relief within Gaza while World Vision’s delivery of additional humanitarian supplies by truck awaits transport by UN convoy. With many families struggling from the widespread loss of basic possessions and the scarcity of supplies, World Vision is scaling up its emergency response to help more than 100,000 people from the initial 50,000 planned.
World Vision will distribute 16,000 Family Emergency Kits, which include canned tuna and beef, vegetable oil, beans, lentils, tea, biscuits and an unexploded ordnance brochure. World Vision will also be distributing 8,000 blankets and 8,000 hygiene kits. The first of these shipments, for more than 1,144 families, will supply enough food to last for up to three months.
World Vision donors support more than 23,000 children in the West Bank and Gaza, including 6,000 children sponsored by Canadians in the West Bank. World Vision began working in Israel and the Palestinian territories in 1975.
World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.
Help provide relief to families affected by conflict in Gaza.
