Update from the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches

May 27, 2024

“For 233 days, Gaza has been witnessing the most brutal war in contemporary history with no signs of an end. The attacks on the civilians are renewed and renewed.  They have brought immense pain and suffering, with the loss of lives reaching unprecedented levels – more than 15,000 children and similar numbers of women, with all their hopes, ambitions and potentials, for their families and communities. Streets are filled with dead bodies, injured people, pain after pain. Many are trapped under rubble or lying in the yards and corridors of hospitals with few possibilities to receive an adequate therapy. Hospitals are heavily damaged and lack essential supplies to continue.  They are operated by overwhelmed and exhausted medical teams.  More than 500 medical personnel have been killed.  Many others have been arrested and subjected to torture.  The World Health Organization described the situation as “beyond catastrophic.”

The widespread destruction of civilian residential areas has made it impossible for most people to live under a normal roof.  All DSPR-MECC staff are displaced at least once.  They are telling us that they can’t distinguish the places where they lived all their lives. Hunger and famine are claiming the lives of innocent children while thousands of trucks laden with aid are prevented from entering.  Israel is insisting on manufacturing famine and uses starvation as a weapon. Amidst this humanitarian crisis, the world struggles to halt these atrocities and stop the ethnic cleansing carried out by those determined to proceed with their genocidal agenda, disregarding what the world is saying, and disregarding decisions made by the highest legal entities at the global level, International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court.

The West Bank is being strangulated under tight siege.  Soldiers at the checkpoints are innovating different ways to humiliate people, delaying people for hours at the checkpoints and opening fire for any reason or excuse.

The United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) recently declared, “Since 21 May, Israeli forces, including an undercover military force, shot and killed eight Palestinians, including two children, in Jenin city and Jenin Refugee Camp. The fatalities included a 50-year-old doctor who was en route to work at Jenin Governmental Hospital, a teacher shot near a school, and a student who was riding a bicycle to school.”

“Since 7 October, 489 Palestinians, including 117 children, have been killed and more than 5,000 Palestinians, including about 790 children, have been injured in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem”, [reports UN-OCHA].  Settler violence has reached an unprecedented level of terror in terms of numbers and brutality of these attacks.  This is taking place with the presence and protection of the Israeli occupation’s soldiers. UN-OCHA reported an average of around 4 settlers attacks taking place in the West Bank every day for the last 8 months.

For further information read the last UN_OCHA update: https://www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-humanitarian-response-update-13-19-may-2024

DSPR-MECC response in Gaza

Since reopening the DSPR’s [Primary Healthcare] Clinic in Rafah in November 2023, our staff have worked day and night in an unsafe and very dangerous situation.  Most of them and their families were forcibly displaced from their homes in different locations like hundreds of thousands of people.   Many sought refuge in Rafah as the Israelis named it “The Safe Area”. They worked under very harsh conditions to secure the continuation of DSPR’s mission in serving the people who are in dire need of primary health care services, dental and laboratory services, as well as health awareness and care and psychosocial support, to keep the hope alive for a better life. The work continued until May 6, when Israeli [forces] started the invasion of Rafah.  It controlled the Rafah crossing point and ordered the people to move to designated locations, as Rafah was no longer a “Safe Area”.  However, they kept chasing those tired families and targeting them with airstrikes and shelled them in the new locations they had moved to.  It is like what happened last night in Tal as-Sultan in northeast of Rafah, where the attacks and burning killed some 40 people – many of them children and women, in the area that was recently designated as “Safe Place”.

The work in the Rafah clinic stopped.  This is a result of the inability to work in the “eye of the storm”.  We will resume the work in Rafah clinic when this threat is stopped and we can reopen and serve people. Most of DSPR staff have moved to the central area of the Gaza Strip and have started implementing the alternative plan, which was previously prepared. A mobile clinic has been started with a microbus that has been rented and adapted to be used as a reception point and pharmacy.  Another car was rented for transporting the team of physicians, nurses, a pharmacist, a social worker, management staff and logistic staff.

The first working day for the mobile clinic was the May 13.  it started reaching out to displaced people who had moved to different locations and were living in tents in a very deprived environment. The team found that the people visiting the clinic have different medical difficulties including lung infections, diarrhoea, skin diseases, minor injuries, chronic diseases and other needs.

On the first day the mobile clinic served 261 patients, some received more than one service and most of them received medicine. The information system’s programme has been inserted into the laptop to make sure that all data is saved and protected.

Now and after the widening of the Israeli occupation’s incursion towards the centre of Rafah city and the western Rafah district, more people have been forced to move again.  An estimated 900,000 people are newly displaced as the Israeli incursion squeezes them out.  This is what happened yesterday in Tal as-Sultan.  The vast majority are moving towards the central districts of Gaza Strip, where DSPR is planning to start another mobile clinic.  Primary health care is in extremely heavy demand.

12 May 2024, Palestinian Territories, Deir al-Balah: Tents for displaced people are crowded west of Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip after thousands of Palestinians fled Rafah after the Israeli army announced the start of a military operation there.  Photo credit: Saher Alghorra/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa” / https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5014381-misery-deepens-gaza%E2%80%99s-rafah-israeli-troops-press-operation

 

Situation in the Northern Gaza Strip

Gaza City and the Northern Gaza Strip [are the focus of the latest] incursions, air strikes and tough fighting.  The results are more casualties and the destruction of civilian residences. The difference this time is that it’s concentrated in Jabalia and the Jabalia Refugee Camp, and some other locations in Gaza City.  The movement of people in other areas of Northern Gaza and Gaza City has become more familiar. This has resulted in more opportunities for people to meet some of their basic needs.

UN-OCHA in its last flash appeal wrote, “Israeli bombardment from the air, land, and sea continues to be reported across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of houses and other civilian infrastructure. Ground incursions and heavy fighting also continue to be reported, especially in Jabalya as well as eastern and central Rafah….  Fuel shortages persist, negatively affecting health interventions at hospitals and primary healthcare facilities….  The delivery of nutrition services has been severely disrupted by the military incursion in Rafah and North Gaza and resulted displacement….  As of 19 May, 10 out of 16 bakeries supported by humanitarian partners in the Gaza Strip are operational, including four in Gaza city.”

DSPR-MECC’s work in Northern Gaza Strip

Since the beginning of the War on Gaza, the DSPR’s work in the northern part of Gaza Strip has been limited to supporting the Christian community, and whoever has sought refuge in the two churches and those in the communities surrounding The Holy Family Catholic Church and Sani Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church. This continues to be the case. The number of the Christians in Gaza has been reduced to less than 600, most of them are still residing in the mentioned churches.

DSPR-MECC says there are 23 staff members in the northern part of Gaza Strip.  Some are residing in the churches and others in different areas of Gaza City. With the slight improvement in people’s ability to move, it has become possible to offer services to others, in addition to serving the Christian community in the churches and the surrounding neighbourhoods.

DSPR staff met with the leadership of the [DSPR] Central Office in Jerusalem, and in the presence of three Board members in Gaza.  Thoughts have been shared, the final assessment revised and plans made to start a medical point in Shijaia.  Maintenance has been carried out on the partially affected section of DSPR-MECC’s vocational training centre in Shijaia so it can be used as a medical point.  It will serve the medical needs of the people in Shijaia and the surrounding neighbourhood, which is dearly needed.  One room will be used as a venue for psychosocial services to target children and mothers in psychosocial support activities.

New Developments in Shijaia

With some of the medical equipment and furniture recovered from the damaged primary health care clinics in Al-Daraj and Shijaia which we used to run before the war on Gaza.  Medicine and medical supplies have been donated by World Health Organization (WHO), ANERA and UNICEF. DSPR’s medical point was successfully established. It was on the same day of the Israeli invasion to Rafah, May 6 and the day of Holy Fire, in the Orthodox Church’s tradition. We are hopeful that this coincidence would be a sign of light that illuminates the darkness of this terrible war, and instills hope for a better life, especially for those who have been tormented for about 8 months by this war.

Without any announcement that the medical point is opened, on the first day our team treated 82 patients.  Next day was busier and we treated 225 patients.  Now the average number of patients is 250.

Psychosocial activities are being organised for groups of children to help give children a routine, encourage them to release their fear and create balance in their psychological status.

Based on the success of the Shijaia medical point and the huge demand for primary health care services in northern Gaza after the collapse of the medical system, we have started planning for a second medical point in Gaza.  We assessed the suitability of the location and the space at the main building of DSPR-MECC in Al Zeitoun Quarter in Gaza City.  We checked the requirements for opening such a medical point there.

The decision was made to start the process of renovating to make this hopeful step.  Unfortunately, as a result of the incursions of the Israeli army in Jabalia and surrounding areas, many people have been forced to move.  We found that some families are using the building as a refuge for their families. The board members have asked them to leave as soon as they find an alternative. It seems it will take some time to have the place evacuated.  For moral reasons and the possible harm that the evacuation might create, it has been decided to give more time before resuming our plan to open the new medical centre as soon as possible.

During the whole period of our emergency response, more than 66,000 persons have serve.  The breakdown for this number as follows:

Type of Service	Number of persons served
Medical Services	28,000
Psychosocial Support	15,000
Food Items	16,000
Unrestricted Cash Support/Cash Transfer	7,000
Total	66,000

 

We are grateful for having such brave heroes and exceptionally dedicated staff who have decided to keep restoring hope and wiping the tears of those forgotten and tortured people.

A big thank you for our partners and supporters, without your care solidarity and support, all of this can’t be possible.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”. Matthew 5:16

May 27, 2024

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Note: Lightly edited by CWS for clarity.