The Qatar Red Crescent Society aid convoy has set off to the besieged Gaza Strip in efforts to relieve the victims of Israeli attacks.
The Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has sent a humanitarian aid convoy to the illegally besieged Gaza Strip with parcels of food and relief, to assist the victims of Israel’s war on the enclave.
The QRCS convoy was sent in cooperation with the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) and Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and traveled through Egypt, making its way to Gaza’s Rafah border crossing. The representatives of both PRCS and QRCS received the convoy and have promised to soon carry out the aid distributions.
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The head of QRCS’s office in Gaza, Dr. Akram Nassar, stated that the aid convoy was part of the organisation’s humanitarian effort to assist individuals impacted by attacks from the illegal Israeli-occupation.
Airstrikes by the illegal Israeli occupation are responsible for the destruction of infrastructure throughout the besieged Gaza strip, including thousands of family homes and hundreds of residential buildings.
QRCS released a statement on Sunday in which Dr. Nassar was further quoted saying, “At PRCS centres in Gaza, food and relief parcels will be handed over to 12,000 beneficiaries worst hit by the recent war, at a total cost of QR 500,000.”
QRCS has been in service to Gaza since 2008, carrying out approximately 80 projects in the city alone, amounting to a total of 120 million dollars over the years. QRCS has further reiterated its commitment to providing long term aid services in war-zones, to improve the quality of life and habitual conditions of those in the impacted areas.
The long term aid services comprise of, “health care, water and sanitation, livelihoods, and shelter,” the statement highlighted.
Despite facing attacks on the frontline, QRCS provided humanitarian aid during ISrael’s recent war on Gaza and its attacks in Jerusalem last May, in addition to distributing relief in the residential areas and to the civilians in besieged Gaza, following the bombings by the illegal Israeli-occupation that same month. This resulted in the killing of two and injuring of 10 relief workers from the QRCS’s office in Gaza.
The charity described the attack as a “gross violation against all international conventions and values, the four Geneva Conventions, and their Additional Protocols.”
Earlier in summer 2021, QRCS launched a 60 million QAR fundraising initiative for Palestine, which included the distribution of food parcels for more than 500,000 people, in addition to the provision of medical and psychological consultations. Further to this, 60 Palestine-based doctors and nurses were enrolled in capacity-building trainings in order to develop their emergency assessment skills.
The campaign further provided most hospitals in Gaza with the necessary medical supplies, including signs, monitors, tents and beds.
Read also: Qatar Red Crescent provides therapeutic services in northwestern Syria
As Egypt plays a crucial role geographically, QRCS and ERC signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen bilateral cooperation in order to work towards a common goal of aiding Palestinians during times of conflict.
Qatar Aid to Gaza
Starting Monday, the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza will start distributing the January funds to needy Palestinian families in the Gaza. In August 2021, the Chairman of Qatar’s Gaza Reconstruction Committee Ambassador Mohammed Al Emadi, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland to grant $100 to 100,000 needy families. The distribution of cash officially started in September 2021.
In May 2021, the 11-day Israeli attacks unraveled a new layer of destruction upon the already-existing poor living conditions in the besieged enclave. 248 Palestinians including 66 children succumbed to their wounds inflicted by the attacks of the illegal Israeli-occupation.
The attacks were supposedly halted after a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Egypt between Hamas and Israel was signed in May 2021. However, the ceasefire has not changed much when it comes to living conditions for Palestinians , as Israeli occupation forces continue to harass and shoot at unarmed Palestinians on a daily basis.
Read more: Qatar condemns Israeli president’s illegal ‘storming’ of Ibrahimi Mosque
In efforts to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure, Qatar has sent various aid packages to the Gaza Strip, including cash assistance and fuel to help run Gaza’s only power plant. Qatar Charity has also contributed to the country’s commitment in aiding the Palestinian people by rebuilding over 1,600 houses.
