The Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees reported on the situation in Gaza:   

“The situation continues to be very dangerous and catastrophic, the Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardment of buildings, institutions and residential locations are intense, stronger and nonstop.  It’s creating more damage and forcibly displacing more people to the south, while the south has become a target for increasing attacks and invasion for the last 3 days! This has also severely affected our staff and premises. Sadly, another staff member lost her life with her husband and child in an airstrike to their home, no further information is available….

Unfortunately, our medical centre in the Al-Daraj area has been bombarded and levelled to the ground, and the primary health care clinics, the pharmacy, the physiotherapy, the optical and the dental clinics and the psychosocial unit, do not exist anymore…  Nobody from our staff was there but unfortunately, tens of neighbours who used to be our clients were killed and injured in that bombardment.

Nevertheless, our staff are proceeding in response to the huge needs and to reduce the pain and suffering of the people in Gaza.  We are proud of them, we believe that they are real heroes, they are standing for care and support, working days and nights while trying to take care of their family members and themselves. Two days ago, our colleague Abdalla, and his family, fled from their home, he told us, “We left at the right time.  We discovered that the Israeli tanks were 1 kilometre away from us”.  Yesterday morning Abdalla joined the team in Rafah to arrange for the psychosocial activities for the displaced children.

Below is a summary of our work in Gaza that our colleagues are conducting under fire:

• Now we are working, mainly, with the forcibly displaced people in the south of the Gaza Strip, we are targeting children and mothers for psychosocial interventions in small groups of mothers and children, in addition to big gatherings for children. To help ventilate the psychological pressure they have as a result of the traumatic experiences they went through, and to reduce the possible development of this into a psychological illness.
• We do training in psychological first aid (PFA) to help groups of people to help and reduce panic in emergencies, which is always there.
• We distribute hygiene kits to help improve the level of hygiene and cleanliness and reduce the spread of communicable diseases.
• Organising health awareness days for groups of mothers to improve health and nutrition behaviours.
• Receiving people in DSPR-Gaza Rafah Clinic for primary health care services, including offering some medicine and health supplies.
• Offering unrestricted cash distribution to 620 households through the Pal-Pay system which we organized with the Bank of Palestine. We will check the eligibility and send the money to individuals, through its branches there and network of partners in Gaza.
• Most of the Christian Community members (around 800 people) remain in the two churches. We managed to bring them food and some basic supplies during the pause.  They are in dire need of medicine for specific cases, and we are trying our best but with little success. The invasion now is very close to the churches…

“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me; I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.”
Matthew 25:35-36.”

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The video is of a psychosocial event in the Khan Younes camp in south Gaza.

December 7, 2023

Thanks to DSPR for the images and video.