St. Louis, Mo., Nov 27, 2024 / 14:05 pm
A nearly two-month blockage of supplies into parts of northern Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war is hampering the aid efforts of Catholic Relief Services, the official international Catholic relief and development agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Megan Gilbert, CRS’ communications manager for the region, told CNA Tuesday that since Oct. 6 CRS has been forced to pause all operations in the North Gaza governate due to evacuation orders and military operations.
CRS had served 2,529 households in the area with food parcels and emergency shelter items before operations were paused, she said.
“CRS has prepositioned items in Jordan and Egypt ready to send to Gaza when access allows, including 33,874 blankets, 8,541 family tents, 4,800 sealing off kits, 9,100 hygiene kits, and 4,000 food parcels,” Gilbert said.
CRS maintains seven relief distribution points and four warehouses in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis in the south and North Gaza and Gaza City in the north. In October and November 2024, CRS was able to get shelter and wash items into south Gaza for the first time since May, distributing 1,129 hygiene kits and 1,138 tents to Gaza families.
All told, CRS and its partners provided food, shelter and hygiene supplies, and cash assistance for basic needs to more than 1 million people in Gaza between Oct. 2023 and Sept. 2024, the group says.
Hamas’ surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 killed 1,300 Israelis and international civilians. Israel subsequently declared war and vowed a siege of the Gaza Strip. As of October 1, 2024, at least 41,689 Palestinians have been killed and 96,625 injured in Gaza since October 2023, CRS says.
In the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, 4,555 people, including 1,910 children, have been displaced, and 695 Palestinians have been killed.
In addition, in Lebanon, hostilities between Israel and the Iran-aligned group Hezbollah have displaced 142,000 people as of early October 2024. CRS has been working with Caritas Lebanon to assist those who have been displaced by the conflict in Lebanon, distributing clothing, hygiene supplies, bedding, and hot meals to families living in collective shelters. They have also been able to offer healthcare and first aid services for displaced families.
A new ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah took effect the morning of Nov. 27. Gilbert said it is not yet clear how the ceasefire will impact CRS’ operations in Lebanon.
CRS has been calling for a total ceasefire since the start of the conflict, as well as unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza to deliver aid to civilians and protection for humanitarian workers. Evacuation orders by the Israeli military currently cover about 86% of Gaza, displacing about 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.1 million people. Most Gazans face “crisis levels of hunger or worse,” with a lack of clean water, sanitation and hygiene supplies particularly affecting the region’s children.
CRS is soliciting donations to help “the most vulnerable of our sisters and brothers in more than 100 countries.” The group has increased its staff presence in Gaza since May despite evacuation orders resulting in the closure of some warehouses, distribution points, and offices.
“All CRS staff members in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon are physically unharmed. However, most CRS staff members in Gaza and their families have lost close family members, experienced multiple displacements and are living with host families, or in emergency shelters, tents or Church compounds,” a CRS report shared with CNA reads.
According to the United Nations, virtually no outside aid has been delivered to northern Gaza in over 40 days. The Israeli military has said its current offensive targets regrouping Hamas fighters, and that it is facilitating civilian evacuations and supply deliveries to hospitals, the BBC reported. The looting of a large U.N. aid convoy of over 100 trucks at gunpoint was also reported last week.
Pope Francis has repeatedly pled for peace in the Holy Land, in September expressing deep concern at the risk of the war between Israel and Hamas “spreading to other Palestinian cities.”
“May there be peace in the Holy Land!” he urged. “May there be peace in Jerusalem. May the Holy City be a place of encounter where Christians, Jews, and Muslims feel they are respected and welcomed, and no one questions the status quo in the respective Holy Places.”
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Earlier this month, Pope Francis met with several hostages recently freed from months of captivity in Gaza.
A few days after that meeting, Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See criticized the pope’s call for an investigation into claims that a genocide may be happening in Gaza. Specifically, Pope Francis wrote in a recent book that, “according to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”
