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Gaza Aid Flow Stepped Up in Spite of Conflict
FrontLines - April 2009
Gaza City, Gaza Strip—Just a few days after the late December start of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, USAID’s West Bank and Gaza operations urgently started to distribute humanitarian aid to thousands of people affected by the violence.
A Palestinian family in the Zeitun area of Gaza City receives USAID-funded milk and blankets.
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With other aid groups, the Agency delivered badly needed medical supplies, blankets, plastic sheeting, and food for families and for facilities caring for small children.
Under a USAID grant, the World Food Program delivered food for 20,000 households. The logistical challenges were great. USAID worked with several NGOs that already had a presence
in Gaza so that once items arrived they could be distributed quickly and efficiently.
Every aspect of the operation was precarious. The destruction in Gaza was extensive and the security at the crossings from Israel into Gaza was unpredictable.
“The urban warfare, combined
with the lockdown of Gaza, created a harrowing situation
in which there were no reliable
safe havens for civilians. The assistance had to be delivered
to them in the interstices between hostile activities,” said West Bank and Gaza Director Howard Sumka.
Some USAID commodities were destroyed when a U.N. warehouse
in Gaza City was bombed. “Our own and our partner staff courageously exposed themselves to constant danger to help the people
in need,” Sumka added.
USAID relied on the United Nations to transport its relief supplies
to Gaza. To ease the backlog of goods awaiting delivery, USAID embedded an employee at the U.N. warehouse to help organize their operations. The Israeli military set up a coordination
group to maintain communications
and develop procedures for providing aid amidst the military
operations. USAID staff were prominent participants.
Since the hostilities ended in mid-January, USAID’s partners have been delivering food and other items daily. The Agency provided
about $12 million for this urgent assistance, mostly in grants to American and international NGOs with operations in Gaza.
In addition to the grants, USAID provided more than 2,000 metric tons of food valued at $2 million to 111,000 Gazans. Each family’s food basket
had a two-month ration of wheat flour, vegetable oil, chickpeas,
sugar, and salt. The needs in Gaza have always been great; now, with 95 percent of the population
dependent on food aid, they are enormous.
That is why on March 2, at the Sharm El-Sheikh donors’ conference,
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged hundreds
of millions of dollars for assistance to Gaza. USAID will continue to provide food and other essential items to thousands of Palestinian families. The Agency is also working to ensure that children’s educational and psycho-social needs are met.
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by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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