Action Against Hunger continues its humanitarian assistance in Northern Gaza

Days after the ceasefire went into effect, on January 27, Action Against Hunger was one of the few organisations reaching previously inaccessible areas of Northern Gaza. Our teams are carrying out solid waste removal and water distribution.

Action Against Hunger team in the Northern governorates receives, on average, one phone call every five minutes with requests of solid waste removal. Since the ceasefire came into effect, at least 655 cubic metres of solid waste have been removed and we plan to clear at least 15 kilometres of roads of solid waste.

“The level of destruction is immense. Everything is rubble. People are cleaning their houses, throwing rubbish into the main street because they can’t do anything else. Rubble and solid waste are blocking the roads, obstructing the movement of cars and humanitarian vehicles,” explains Natalia Anguera, Head of Middle East Operations at Action Against Hunger.

Action Against Hunger staff arrived quickly to support people trying to return to the North. Nearly 600,000 people have crossed to Northern Gaza since the beginning of the ceasefire. Half of them on foot for more than five hours from southern areas of Gaza. People are desperate to find things as basic as water or items to clean their shattered homes and care for their health.

Farid – for confidentiality purposes, the name has been altered – Action Against Hunger staff, knows first-hand the conditions in which thousands of Palestinians survive today in Gaza, especially in the North. “One day, I went to check the conditions of the toilet where a pregnant woman lives with her husband and young child. I will never forget this painful moment. I went to look for the latrine but found nothing but a small bucket. The hardest thing was to find out that they were using that same bucket for more than one purpose.”

Action Against Hunger was supporting people in the North of Gaza even before the ceasefire started. Our teams distributed about 10,000 litres of water near Salah ad-Din Street and another 7,000 litres in Al Rasheed to families making their way north. As part of our efforts to help internally displaced families, we also built latrines and distributed mops, brooms, bleach, disinfectants and many other items to maintain cleanliness and health in 52 shelters. These distributions also helped reduce the spread of an outbreak of skin diseases among the children and keep them healthy.