Gaza Emergency Appeal - Please help today

CBM is working with Danish Church Aid (DCA) and provided food and emergency supplies to families who are displaced. The supplies provided include essential items like food, hygiene kits, mattresses, blankets and soap.

The food parcels are designed to cover a family for about five days. They contain everyday food articles such as cheese, jam, olive oil, beef etc. Hygiene kits, designed to cover basic hygiene needs of a family for about two weeks, contain items such as toiletries, towels and detergent.

These kits also include specific items for people with disabilities. DCA is working hard to identify people with disabilities to ensure that they have access to relief.

As you know, people with disabilities are especially vulnerable during times of crisis.

As of 14th August, DCA and CBM were able to reach 2,100 families - around 14,000 people - and are continuing their efforts to reach out to more families and people with disabilities.

Staff members of our partner DCA are a dedicated team, risking their own lives to provide support to those most at risk.

At the end of August 2014 CBM and partners carried out needs assessments in order to determine what help is needed next.

The assessment found that children who are deaf and their families are living in very crowded shelters and many of these children will need psychosocial support. The U.N estimates that around 373,000 children in Gaza need direct psychological support because they have witnessed violence, lost a relative or have been displaced.

CBM Ireland will support its partner Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children (ASDC) to provide early psychosocial support for at risk children who are deaf and their families. This programme will begin in Septembwe 2014 and is estimated to run for six months.

This programme will reach 400 children who are deaf, aged between 3 and 17, and their families.

The beneficiaries are children who are enrolled in special education classes at Atfaluna School and Early Intervention Program. The children come from all areas of the Gaza Strip including: the southern areas, Northern areas, Middle areas, and the Gaza City.

An assessment on the status of their hearing aids will also be carried out. Based on this, children who have lost hearing aids will be provided with a replacement.

CBM partner Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR), based in the West Bank, in coordination with the Palestine Ministry of Health, is receiving severely injured people from the Gaza Strip for surgery and rehabilitation. CBM is working with BASR in order to ensure that all material and medicines are available for treatment and follow up of those patients. Some amputees have already received medications and are waiting for surgical and rehabilitation care.