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Hatem Shurrab, an aid worker with Islamic Relief (a UK charity), is blogging daily on the BBC website - it makes for powerful reading.
Ahead of ground incursion, at least half of all foreign nationals have voluntarily left Gaza
IDF reports in their daily update that about half the foreign and dual
nationals living in Gaza left yesterday, as requested by their
governments:
CIS - 190 citizens
USA - 27
Turkey - 7
Norway - 6
of a total 443 according to border records.
UN: aid not enough
Maxwell Gaylard, UN spokesperson in Gaza, says that despite increased aid there are 'critical gaps'.
An Oxfam spokesperson says food, water and fuel are in short supply.
We'll look out for more information on these gaps and hopefully provide information on how they're being plugged as soon as possible.
Libya sends aid by truck not sea; Jordan announces daily aid
2.1.09
Amongst the convoys in the last few days, Israeli NGO IICC has noted various news articles on aid (our bold):
a. Libya : 7 trucks of medical supplies and 7 power generators entered the Gaza Strip (Wafa Agency, December 30).
b. Saudi Arabia : Saudi aid flown in on planes is scheduled to arrive in the Gaza Strip during December 31 (Middle East News Agency, December 30).
c. Algeria : 61 tons of food and medical supplies were brought by planes, some of which landed in Al-Arish, Sinai. Some of them are scheduled to land in the coming days. The aid is scheduled to arrive in the Gaza Strip in the coming days (Wafa Agency, December 30).
d. Jordan decided to send humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip on a daily basis, including food, medical supplies, and blood rations (Jordanian News Agency, December 30).
A bit more info on the USA UNRWA donation
Last week the USA announced an $85m injection into UNRWA’s aid programme: UNRWA announces that $25m of that will go for emergency needs in Gaza.
COGAT update 1 January
More aid yesterday, and there’s more on the way today.
60 trucks with 1360 tons of aid on 1 January
72 trucks expected on 2 January
Israel is also evacuating those with dual nationalities from Gaza at the request of their governments – this will presumably include a number of aid workers and their partners. Governments of Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Norway, Phillipines, Turkey, Germany and USA are asking 443 people to leave Gaza and they’re bringing their embassies’ staff to Erez to pull them out today.
Let’s hope this doesn’t hinder the continuing evacuation of medical cases. Egypt and Israel both continue to station medical crews on the borders in case any emergencies come through.
Increased aid on its way?
1.1.09
Speaking from Sderot on the Gaza border, Tzipi Livni's spokesperson told the New York Times:
... [Israel] was seeking ways to increase humanitarian aid so that its military endeavor could continue without further pressure to stop. It permitted a dozen wounded and ill Gazans into Israel on Wednesday for treatment at hospitals here and allowed in some 100 trucks of food and medicine.
Fingers crossed...
Australia pledges $5m aid
Acting Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, pledges AU$5m - £2.5m, US$3.5m - to Gaza today.
"As part of its commitment to help support people caught up in the conflict, the Australian Government will make an immediate commitment of $5 million in additional assistance to the people of the Gaza Strip and stands ready to consider further assistance.
"This assistance will go towards helping to ensure that the people of the Gaza Strip have adequate access to much-needed basic goods, such as food and medical supplies."
Public information leaflets over Rafah, from IDF's daily update
Not sure if it counts as aid, but for completeness' sake...
ICRC's planeload arrives in Gaza
International Red Cross Red Crescent landed a planeload of medical and humanitarian supplies in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night and the aid reached Gaza in yesterday's truck convoy.
Among the supplies: adrenaline, anasthetics, dressings, gloves, needles and syringes, drainage tubes, suture kits, IV drip packs and intubation kits. ICRC also repaired a generator at their hospital in Gaza City yesterday, allowing more patient treatments.
Kuwaiti Red Crescent has also reported they've flown a 10-ton aid shipment into Egypt which should arrive over the next few days.
Behind the headlines, more good news from UNRWA
In a powerful press release yesterday on the launch of UNRWA's flash appeal, Karen Abu Zayd notes the suffering of civilians in Gaza but also has this ray of light:
"Tomorrow, we will resume our food distributions which were suspended on 18th December", said AbuZayd.
UNRWA suspended its daily distribution to 20,000 Gazans in need on 18 December citing a lack of infrastructure and a breakdown in supplies from Israel. The lull in fighting between Hamas and Israel officially ended on 19 December.
UNRWA appeals for online donations
The UNRWA website's front page has been changed to reflect an emergency appeal for donations from the public.
WHO food bank full to capacity
In a COGAT press release today, WHO announced:
The World Food Programme has informed Israel that they will not be resuming shipment of food commodities in to Gaza due to the fact that their warehouses are at full capacity and will last for approximately two weeks.
Less logistical manouevuring for WHO, more food for Gazans. Good news on New Year's Day.
MoD: More aid on New Year's Eve
Israel's Ministry of Defence announced in a press release yesterday
that a shipment of 93 trucks with around 2500 tons of aid arrived in
Gaza.
In addition, after the breakdown in communications on Tuesday, 12
Palestinians went for treatment in Israel. Two were children injured
in Israeli strikes.
More COGAT details for 30 December
Bizarrely although Erez was open, no medical cases went through into Israel. COGAT made this statement:
The exit of medical and humanitarian cases is maintained according to the security situation at the Erez crossing. In addition, due to an internal Palestinian decision no requests for medical exits from the Gaza Strip were received at the CLA.
CLA is the IDF's Civil Liaison Administration office, based in Israel. It's contacted via ICRC and other NGOs by the Hamas government office responsible for organising exit visas, usually on a daily basis.
An interesting flour related fact
42 trucks of flour went in on 30 December - 1246 tons.
According to OCHA - who have been silent for a while - Gaza needs 450 tons of refined flour or 800 tons of unrefined wheatflour a day. So that's only a day and a half's worth in the worst case.
Previously flour and other raw foods entered Gaza via the conveyor at Karni. Karni is regularly hit by errant mortars from Gaza, but when working at full capacity is about 1000 tons of wheatflour a day. That level hasn't been seen since before the events of June 2007.
COGAT details confirm 30 December aid transfer
98 of the planned 110 trucks we detailed earlier went into Gaza on 30
December.
The overall total was 2366 tons on 98 trucks:
42 trucks, 1246 tons flour and yeast
20 trucks, 628 tons sugar
14 trucks, 90 tons medical supplies
10 trucks, 266 tons rice
4 trucks, 69 tons oil
1 truck each animal feed, legumes and other foodstuffs
And of course 5 ambulances
US pledges $85m to UNRWA
30.12.08
BBC are reporting that the US will fulfil its expected pledge to UNRWA this year so that they work can continue across the Middle East.
No breakdown on how it’s going to be given but a substantial proportion must fall to rebuilding livelihoods in Gaza.
Egypt wants Fatah support...
… before it will open Rafah fully for aid and humanitarian assistance.
YNet reports that Egypt has called for Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah forces to ‘fully control’ the crossing before they will open it. It seems that it’s a problem of army capacity – Egypt isn’t sure it can secure the border itself.
ICRC sending a planeload
As we just mentioned, ICRC is landing a plane in Tel Aviv later – here’s their press release.
COGAT details: 29 December aid transfer
Erez was open yesterday:
4 patients and chaperones entered Israel for treatment.
10 international aid workers left Gaza for Israel; none went in.
Kerem Shalom was also open and 63 aid trucks went in:
13 trucks of rice, total 336 tons
7 trucks of sugar, total 240 tons
29 trucks of flour and yeast, total 905 tons
8 trucks of medical supplies, total 64 tons
That’s a total 1545 tons of aid.
In addition
5 ambulances
1000 units of blood from Jordan’s blood banks
Huge aid influx today into Gaza
110 trucks will either be going into or coming out of Gaza today through Kerem Shalom. That’s the first export from Gaza in at least a month.
In the imports:
All the trucks currently in the queue, including:
1 truck of medicine and medical equipment from UNICEF to their centre in Gaza
1 truck of medicine and medical equipment from Medecins Sans Frontieres to their local staff
1 truck of medicine and medical equipment from USAID to their centre
2 trucks of medicine and medical equipment from international charities
2 trucks of medicine and medical equipment from WHO to their centre
6 trucks of medicine and medical equipment, plus animal fodder, from ICRC to their centre
2 trucks of flour from Egypt
10 trucks of animal fodder, barley and rice from international charities
13 trucks of medical equipment from Jordan (that’s a total 29 trucks in the last two days)
15 trucks of wheat, flour and energy bars (no joke) from WFP
23 trucks of milk, rice, sugar and oil from UNRWA to their distribution centres
34 trucks of flour, sugar, rice and oil from international charities
That’s a total 110 trucks through Kerem Shalom
On average we see 24.5 tons per truck so that’s 2695 tons.
Plus
The contents of the aborted Qatari ship voyage are also arriving by truck today
And a planeload of ICRC aid is arriving at Tel Aviv later today from Geneva and will probably go in tomorrow.
In the exports:
There will be a Gazan export convoy later today. No details on what’s in it yet, more soon.
COGAT details: 29 December aid transfer
Erez was open yesterday:
4 patients and chaperones entered Israel for treatment.
10 international aid workers left Gaza for Israel; none went in.
Kerem Shalom was also open and 63 aid trucks went in:
13 trucks of rice, total 336 tons
7 trucks of sugar, total 240 tons
29 trucks of flour and yeast, total 905 tons
8 trucks of medical supplies, total 64 tons
That’s a total 1545 tons of aid.
In addition:
10 ambulances
1000 units of blood from Jordan’s blood banks
Donate now: Muslim Aid launches £2m aid drive
Click to add your aid now: Muslim Aid (a UK charity, along with IR) needs to raise £2m to take a convoy to Gaza.
Islamic Relief aid arrives at Al-Shifa hospital
5 trucks of medical supplies (that’s 5 weeks by Spanish standards!) have arrived at Al-Shifa. IR are also calling for international donors to supply extra beds, 50 more ambulances and significant medical upgrades – no word on whether they can be sources quickly.
UAE joins the truck convoy
$2.2m of aid on its way from UAE – no word what or when, but it’s coming.
Spain sends two trucks
ICRC has received two trucks with 50 palettes of aid from Spain: they claim that’s enough medical supplies for 2 weeks. The convoy is in Ramallah awaiting transfer (today, we hope).
But is 2 trucks really enough for 2 weeks?
EU to call for increased aid to Gaza later today
France has added its voice to the calls – an announcement expected shortly.
Jordanian aid arrives in Gaza
16 trucks from Jordan’s Hashemite Charity Organisation have arrived in Gaza (this might be the same as the 13 trucks reported earlier).
They contain food, medical supplies and urgently-needed blood units (Hamas made public appeals to Gazan citizens for blood on 27 December.)
CARE International requests international support
CARE, working alongside other NGOs and hospitals in Gaza, has warned that its existing stock of $20,000 of medical supplies is diminishing and is seeking new donations from international partners.
Medical evacuees allowed into Egypt
Reliefweb reports that Egypt opened Rafah for medical emergencies yesterday – that makes both borders now open.
COGAT update 30 December (part 2)
COGAT has published a comprehensive report detailing aid since November 5 2008 (22,246 tonnes in the last 6 weeks) and explaining Israel’s intentions to deliver aid throughout the current offensive:
• Open contacts and 24 hour "hot line" with the International Organizations (UNRAW, ICRC, WHO, WFP, etc) in order to estimate the humanitarian needs and requirements, throughout the operation.
• COGAT officers are working around the clock in order to facilitate the humanitarian requirements.
• Throughout the whole operation COGAT will be in contact with all the relevant representative (MFA, ambassadors, UN, ICRC and NGO’S).
And interestingly:
• COGAT is also in contact with the P.A. (Abu-Mazen/ Fayad), the Fatah civilian board at Gaza and the private sector, in order to assess the humanitarian needs and requirements as well as coordinating the entry of products and merchandise into Gaza.
• The humanitarian assistance is an integral part of the operation
What happened to Dignity?
Free Gaza sent the Dignity from Cyprus to Gaza on 29 December with 3 tons of medical aid.
Unfortunately when it got there it was apprehended – various sources covered the clash between Dignity and an Israeli Navy vessel. There’s some confusion over what happened; Israel’s now claiming that Dignity actually crashed into their boat after trying to make a sharp turn. It sounds more like a computer game going wrong than an evasive manouevure:
The SS Dignity set sail from Cyprus on December 29 towards the Gaza Strip. During the process of identifying the ship, Israeli naval vessels approached in order to inform it that it would not be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip, which is a war zone and under closure.
The Dignity did not answer the Israeli hail and responded by making a sharp turn. The Israeli vessel was forced to execute emergency maneuvers in order to avoid the Dignity. The Dignity continued sailing and hit the Israeli vessel. Both vessels suffered light damage.
Following this incident, the Dignity answered the Israeli hail and began moving towards Cyprus. Israeli naval ships are escorting the Dignity and extending any assistance required on its way to the Cypriot port of Larnaca. The Israeli navy offered its assistance to the ship and was told that it was not necessary.
No casualties reported in the press, although FGM is concerned for their health and welfare on its website.
Gazans being treated in Israeli hospitals
Apparently Erez will be open today for humanitarian and medical cases – we can safely assume therefore that Gazan civilian casualties are being brought to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
More aid on its way
Israel says it’s holding the current aid and just waiting for an opportunity to send it through:
13 trucks of food and medicine from Jordan
11,000 food packages from Turkey
34 warzone injury kits and 16 WHO emergency medicine kits from Norway
COGAT update 30 December
COGAT has published a comprehensive report detailing aid since November 5 2008 (22,246 tonnes in the last 6 weeks) and explaining Israel’s intentions to deliver aid throughout the current offensive:
• Open contacts and 24 hour "hot line" with the International Organizations (UNRAW, ICRC, WHO, WFP, etc) in order to estimate the humanitarian needs and requirements, throughout the operation.
• COGAT officers are working around the clock in order to facilitate the humanitarian requirements.
• Throughout the whole operation COGAT will be in contact with all the relevant representative (MFA, ambassadors, UN, ICRC and NGO’S).
And interestingly:
• COGAT is also in contact with the P.A. (Abu-Mazen/ Fayad), the Fatah civilian board at Gaza and the private sector, in order to assess the humanitarian needs and requirements as well as coordinating the entry of products and merchandise into Gaza.
• The humanitarian assistance is an integral part of the operation
Statistics on today's aid into Gaza
28.12.08
If you can read Hebrew, this is very useful information. If not, suffice to say:
1496 tons on 63 trucks entered Kerem Shalom today,
mostly urgently-needed medical supplies and food for UNWRA's most needy recipients:
הנדון : סיכום פעילות מעברים בגזרה הדרומית לתאריך:26.12.2008
מעבר כרם-שלום:
שעות פעילות המעבר:08:00-16:30
| טובין | מס' משאיות | משקל בטון/כמות |
| מזון ותרופות תרומה ירדנית | 12 | 264 |
| קמח | 10 | 314 |
| אורז UNRWA | 8 | 159 |
| שמן | 5 | 140 |
| תרומה מיצרית | 5 | - |
| קמח WFP | 4 | 122 |
| סוכר תרומה מצרית | 3 | 94 |
| תרופות | 3 | 44 |
| תרופות WHO | 3 | 40 |
| סוכר | 2 | 79 |
| קמח תרומה מיצרית | 2 | 88 |
| אורז | 2 | 62 |
| מלח WFO | 1 | 40 |
| אבקת חלב | 1 | 19 |
| אבקת חלב UNRWA | 1 | 15 |
| בייצי רבייה | 1 | 19 (280,000 יח') |
| סה"כ | 63 | 1496 |
פירוט מעבר המשאיות:
פירוט משאיות שתואמו מול משאיות שפרקו בפועל במעבר כרם-שלום:
| טובין | משאיות שתואמו | משאיות שפרקו בפועל |
| מזון ותרופות תרומה ירדנית | 12 | 12 |
| קמח | 10 | 10 |
| אורז UNRWA | 9 | 8 |
| שמן | 5 | 5 |
| תרומה מיצרית | 5 | 5 |
| קמח WFP | 4 | 4 |
| סוכר תרומה מצרית | 3 | 3 |
| תרופות | 3 | 3 |
| תרופות WHO | 3 | 3 |
| סוכר | 3 | 2 |
| קמח תרומה מיצרית | 2 | 2 |
| אורז | 2 | 2 |
| מלח WFO | 1 | 1 |
| אבקת חלב | 1 | 1 |
| אבקת חלב UNRWA | 1 | 1 |
| בייצי רבייה | 1 | 1 |
| תרופות UNICEF | 1 | 0 |
| סה"כ | 66 | 63 |
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