27 January 2016
This week, Gaza has been hit by torrential winter rain and severe flooding, exacerbating the territory’s humanitarian crisis and placing the health of Palestinian families at serious risk. Winter storms have reportedly blown the roofs off houses, and some schools have been forced to close. Power supply to homes and infrastructure – already cut for 12-16 hours per day due to fuel shortages – have also been further hampered.
Crumbling drainage infrastructure as a result of repeated conflict and over eight years of blockade and closure of the territory by Israel and Egypt mean that winter floods continue to pose a considerable danger to Gaza’s 1.8 million residents. Approximately 95,000 people in Gaza remain homeless after their houses were destroyed in the 2014 conflict, with reconstruction efforts stagnant due in part to Israel’s restrictions on the import of basic building supplies into the territory.
These displaced families, many of whom live in temporary shelters or among the ruins of their former homes, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of exposure to the cold and wet. In the current storms, Palestinians in the southern Gaza communities of Rafah, Khan Younis, and Khuza’a have been hardest-hit. In Rafah alone, approximately 100 families have been evacuated from flooded areas.
In order to respond the immediate needs of evacuated families, MAP are distributing emergency supplies with the help of two local partners. We will be providing approximately 250 blankets, 250 mattresses and 150 hygiene kits to these families.
You can also help us call for a lifting of the vital building supplies to be allowed into Gaza, and for the blockade to be lifted, by signing the Avaaz petition here.