Eight HI aid trucks have entered Gaza

Since October 7 and the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas, around 19,667 people have been killed and more than 52,586 injured in the relentless bombing of Gaza by Israeli forces (as of December 19). This Israeli offensive comes in the wake of a massive attack by Hamas on October 7, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken hostage.

14,000 items ready for distribution, not enough to cover the needs of the 1.9 million displaced people

Eight HI trucks have entered the Gaza Strip to deliver aid to the population. 

With these latest deliveries, HI will supply 380 wheelchairs, 52 wheeled toilets, 250 crutches and 150 crutch tips to people with disabilities or injuries. Some 12,942 medical kits (bandages, first-aid kits, gauze compresses) are also being supplied to treat injuries.

A further 430 hygiene kits, 450 dignity kits and 150 toileting aids will be distributed to displaced families living in the emergency shelters. 

Urgent need for essential goods  

Since October 7, the population of Gaza has been deprived of basic human services, including drinking water, food, electricity, telecommunications and fuel. The delivery of essential goods by humanitarian operators is a necessity, particularly for people with disabilities and injured civilians, who are denied the right to flee or have all their medical aid abandoned.

HI has already distributed in the past two months almost all of the equipment and humanitarian aid items that were stored in its three emergency storage facilities in Gaza, assisting some 3,500 people.

After 25 days of waiting and lengthy negotiations, the arrival of those eight trucks in the Gaza Strip represents hope for several hundred people, focusing on people with disabilities or wounded, who are in urgent need of those specific items.

HI continues to call for safe and rapid humanitarian access 

While the content of these trucks will support a small part of the affected population, this is far from enough to ensure that affected civilians can be adequately protected. HI continues to be alarmed by the lack of safe humanitarian access and the limited number of trucks being able to enter the Gaza Strip daily. Safe, rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance for civilians is urgently needed to increase the quantity of aid to be brought into Gaza. In addition, aid should be allowed through all border crossing points available to ensure that assistance can reach the whole territory of the Gaza Strip. Only a ceasefire could ensure that aid organizations provide the adequate support needed. 

Call for a ceasefire

HI is calling on all parties to the conflict to stop using explosive weapons in densely populated areas of Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Lebanon. Furthermore, HI supports #CeasefireNow, an open call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Israel to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and further loss of innocent life, and to ensure that humanitarian aid can be delivered quickly and safely.