Urgent distress campaign in the Gaza Strip
May War 2021
Emergency relief and natural disasters are among the most important relief work carried out by the International Relief Organization to help victims of wars and disasters. Where the organization responded to an urgent distress from the residents of the Gaza Strip due to the war of destruction that took place in May 2021, which resulted in the total destruction of 1,447 housing units, partial damage to 13,000 housing units, and the displacement of 120,000 citizens from their homes as a result of the bombing of Gaza, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Information.
And after field and inspection visits to the head of the International Relief Organization, Mamdouh Badawi, and his team, to look at people’s conditions and needs, and visit officials in Gaza to see the damages of the agricultural sector, the number of affected workers and their facilities, and preliminary reports regarding the inventory of the damages of the agricultural, fish, animal, and bee sectors, and to discuss ways to provide urgent assistance. For farmers affected by war in the bombed lands, the relief program of the International Relief Agency was as follows:
The workers category is one of the most affected groups in the recent war on Gaza and in great need after losing their job and source of livelihood, the scarcity of job opportunities in the Gaza Strip and the destruction of the economy and infrastructure.
The organization responded to the distress of two young men, Kamal and Sabri Salah, in the Hashashin area of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, to restore their greenhouse, which was bombed during the war on Gaza. This led to the destruction of parts of the greenhouse and the death of the crop in the greenhouse as a result of the farmers’ inability to irrigate their crops and reach their land under the bombing. Kamal says:
“My friend and I got a good loan from one of the youth associations to establish an agricultural project in order to support our families and create job opportunities for other workers, but the project did not last until the harvest, as the occupation surprised us by bombing the agricultural pigeons and losing the crop because we were unable to irrigate the crops because of the war.”
We have accumulated debts, and we will not be able to pay the monthly installment, which is 400 shekels, in the event of damage to us, and we fear that we will be imprisoned as debtors of financial liabilities while we are on our way.
“I did not expect the speed with which the International Relief Organization responded to our call, and within less than 24 hours, the agricultural pigeons were restored and returned as they were. Thanks to the International Relief Organization, those in charge of it, the donors and supporters.”