I saw many injured people at the hospital. Their faces were full of fear and sadness. It is hard to describe the desolation that people feel in Gaza.
Jalila Ayyad, the first Christian casualty in the conflict in Gaza, died in her home yesterday when a shell hit. One of her sons, Jeries, is in hospital with serious wounds. Caritas Jerusalem is trying to evacuate him out of Gaza to East Jerusalem.
Caritas Internationalis (CI) calls on both parties in the Gaza conflict to agree to a permanent ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to get through and for the human rights of Palestinians to be protected.
The Caritas emergency programme will provide medical supplies and medicines to four hospitals plus fuel for generators. Two thousand families will receive food parcels and 500 families will be given blankets.
Caritas Jerusalem has appealed for an emergency help in Gaza, but sometimes what people really need is a listening ear or just a kind word.
Over 90 Gazans have been killed following four days of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. Militants have also been firing hundreds of rockets from Gaza into Israel. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the situation ‘is on a knife-edge’.
Caritas members took part in the pilgrimage to holy sites from 12 – 16 May. They witnessed the difficult lives of Palestinians and called on Christians, Muslims and Jews to work together to bring about peace.
Caritas directors from various parts of the world as well as the confederation’s secretary general Michel Roy will go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land next week. They will be praying for an end to the cycle of violence.
Caritas reaches Palestinian families stranded by floods in Gaza after severe storms add to the misery of daily life on the Strip.