A group of UK charities including Oxfam GB, Islamic Relief and ActionAid UK have urged the government to lobby for emergency aid to be allowed to be delivered in Gaza.
In a joint statement published on Saturday, the charities urged prime minister Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary James Cleverly to urgently “press all parties to allow emergency aid to be delivered in Gaza and allow access to displaced people”.
“This must include an immediate end to the total siege ensuring unfettered humanitarian access, including delivery of medical supplies, food, fuel and water,” the statement reads.
Action Against Hunger, War Child, Christian Aid, CAFOD, Plan International UK, Humanity and Inclusion, Medical Aid for Palestinians and Care International UK also signed the statement.
Muslim Aid reported last week that an “effective blockade of the Gaza strip” meant “getting aid into Gaza has been severely disrupted”.
“There is a total blockage of aid access, banking restrictions, and funding into Gaza”, said Abu Akeem, head of international programmes at Muslim Aid.
“However, we are in discussions with our partners inside Gaza to pre-finance agreed humanitarian interventions, while we urgently call for the immediate opening of humanitarian corridors.
“We are procuring from vendors inside Gaza to stockpile and distribute, and secondly, we are pre-procuring supplies outside Gaza in anticipation of humanitarian corridor opening soon.”
Further appeals launch
Several charities opened fundraising appeals at the start of last week, including British Red Cross, Islamic Relief and Oxfam, with more organisations doing so since.
Now, ActionAid has opened an emergency Gaza Crisis Appeal and has urged UK government to work with the Israeli government to take all necessary steps to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Christian Aid has launched a Middle East Crisis Appeal to help people impacted by the escalation of violence across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Unicef UK and Action Against Hunger have also opened emergency appeals.
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