Emergency Appeal

Since 2007, Israel has imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the Gaza Strip, severely controlling the import of basic necessities including food, fuel and medicines.

In December 2008, Israel launched a three week bombardment of the Gaza Strip. People were unable to flee to safety, heavily populated areas were bombed mercilessly and white phosphorous was used on the civilian population. The attack left 1,400 Palestinians dead, and over 5,000 wounded.

Whilst still recovering from the 2008/2009 bombardment and the ongoing siege, Palestinians in Gaza were once more terrorised by a week-long bombardment in November 2012. Over 150 people were killed, 30 of them children.

On July 8th 2014, the Gaza Strip came under attack by Israeli forces. The aggression and violence continued for seven weeks. 2,100 Palestinians were killed and over 11,200 Palestinians were injured, including 3,000 children. At least 500,000 people were forced to flee their homes and live in emergency shelters or with host families.

At the time of writing, the “Great March of Return” protests in Gaza that began on 30 March 2018 have, according to the Palestine Centre for Human Rights, resulted in 214 Palestinian deaths and a further 14,251 Palestinians wounded. Since the protests began, the health sector in Gaza has been brought to the brink of collapse, with health facilities severely under-resourced and unable to cope with the massive influx of casualties.

More than 620,000 Israeli citizens currently reside in settlements in the West Bank. Hundreds of thousands of square meters, including farmland and grazing areas, have been appropriated from Palestinians in order to build them (B’Tselem). There are now approximately 755,000 Palestinian refugees in the West Bank. From 2006 until 31 May 2019, Israel demolished at least 1,424 Palestinian residential units in the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem), causing 6,269 people – including at least 3,155 minors – to lose their homes (B’Tselem)

The Covid 19 Pandemic has ravaged the occupied territories and further impoverished Palestinian refugees across the Middle East. Tensions continue to rise in the occupied West Bank, with settler violence and restrictions on Palestinians increasing. The political will to support Palestinian liberation is dwindling with decision makers and Palestinians are struggling to make their voices heard.

Palestinians began protesting in Jerusalem after Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the removal of several families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah.  Israeli forces attacked hundreds of Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque with rubber bullets and stun grenades as evening prayers took place during the holy month of Ramadan.

As tensions continued to rise across East Jerusalem, the Israeli military once again conducted airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip killing 242 Palestinians, including 66 children and 38 women, four of whom were pregnant. Over 1,900 Palestinians (including 610 children) were injured during the assault.