OPT: Gaza children suffer as rich world meets to discuss aid
Relief Web :: Save the children Alliance 31 Aug 2006
As donor governments gather in Sweden to talk about what further humanitarian assistance is needed for Gaza, children in this densely populated area face another day of extreme hardship and suffering, due to a combination of Israeli restrictions and the ongoing freeze on funding imposed by the very governments who are meeting to talk about finding more.
Since 28th June, 44 children have been killed, electricity and water infrastructure has been destroyed and humanitarian assistance has been routinely blocked from getting to those people who need it. Since 15th August, for example, no humanitarian aid at all has been allowed through some gates and even humanitarian workers have had their movements heavily restricted.
Sue Smith, Regional Director of Save the Children UK, said, “Gaza needs more financial support, but donor governments and Israel must first and immediately loosen the stranglehold they have on funds that already exist.
Because of the freeze on aid and tax revenues, and the detention of PA ministers, basic health and sanitation services are collapsing, threatening a public health disaster, and the education system is in chaos from top to bottom.
The Minister of Education is being indefinitely detained, teachers are striking because they haven’t been paid for months, and some schools are still being used as camps for displaced people. It is an outrage that the major donors have allowed children to suffer like this for months on end.”
Save the Children UK calls on all donors to:
– Immediately provide essential funding to allow for the provision of basic services and end the civil service strike, which will have a particularly disastrous affect on the education sector, as school opens on 2 September,
– Use all available political and financial pressure to secure immediate and free access to children in need by humanitarian agencies.
Notes to editors
Save the Children has worked in the Middle East since 1949. Today we support a wide variety of programmes in Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Save the Children fights for children in the UK and around the world who suffer from poverty, disease, injustice and violence. We work with them to find lifelong answers to the problems they face.
For more information about Save the Children, please visit the website: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk
For more information please contact: Save the Children Press Office: +44 (0) 207 012 6841, Email address: [email protected]
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