March 8, 2024
News
The situation for the people of the Gaza Strip is dire. 2.2 million people are on the brink of famine. Over 85% of the population has been forced to flee their homes and are surviving in inhumane conditions. Even the most basic necessities are lacking. A planned Israeli ground operation in Rafah would have unimaginable consequences. Caritas Czech Republic joins the call on the Government of the Czech Republic to use all its capabilities to push for an immediate solution to the humanitarian crisis and a ceasefire.
donate and help civilians in gaza
The current situation
The military operations in Gaza are having a tragic impact on its people. In one of the world's most densely populated belt of land, where there is no safe place to go and from where it is not possible to flee to safety, over 30,000 people have been killed and more than 72,000 injured since the beginning of October. The vast majority of the 2.3 million inhabitants there have had to flee their homes, many of them repeatedly. About 1.5 million of them are huddled in Rafah, a small pocket in the south of the Gaza Strip where only 300,000 people lived before 7th October.
People are surviving in makeshift shelters, lacking even the most basic necessities such as drinking water, food, safe shelter and health care. Diseases are spreading massively, with people dying from commonly treatable illnesses and from starvation and dehydration. Humanitarian aid supplies are totally inadequate. In February, for example, the Israeli authorities allowed only six of the planned 24 humanitarian missions to enter the area north of Wadi Gaza. A ceasefire must be reached as soon as possible to provide sufficient humanitarian aid.
Position of the Czech Republic
The signatories of the appeal, including Caritas Czech Republic, appreciate the will of Czech representatives to take into account the humanitarian principles of international law. As well as the fact that the Czech Republic, together with all EU states except Hungary, has joined the demand for an immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire, the unconditional release of hostages and the provision of humanitarian aid, and that it no longer blocks sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers.
At the same time, they appreciate the CZK 5 million in financial assistance that our Government has provided for humanitarian aid in Gaza. However, they believe that, given that the reconstruction of the destroyed Gaza Strip will take years, such assistance is insufficient, and they ask that our government join in more international aid.
Specific requirements of the call
In light of the threat of a humanitarian catastrophe - famine, absence of medical care and the impossibility of delivering humanitarian aid due to the ongoing fighting throughout the Gaza Strip, the signatories call on the government of the Czech Republic to take immediate and concrete action. It is not enough to just express intentions; immediate action must be taken, and ways must be found to provide the necessary aid to the suffering civilians. They therefore call on the Czech government and diplomacy to:
- use all public and non-public contacts, in cooperation with the EU and the US, to pressure the Israeli government to conclude a ceasefire and an agreement with the Arab states to end the fighting, return the hostages and provide mass humanitarian aid,
- include aid to Gaza in the Czech Republic's long-term foreign humanitarian and development strategies, start immediately implementing the declared urgent humanitarian objectives, and use good relations with Israel to ensure its delivery to those in need. (The Palestinian territories were not included among the target countries for the regular humanitarian appeals announced last December and Czech NGOs were thus unable to submit proposals for aid to Gaza this year),
- actively seek other ways of humanitarian aid, e.g. support technically and materially Jordan and its programme of sending aid by air, the so-called "airdrops", to northern Gaza; use the presence of partners of Czech humanitarian organisations and receive injured children for treatment in the Czech Republic, following the example of the Vatican,
- support a public hearing in the Czech Chamber of Deputies on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on its historical, international legal and human rights aspects and on the severe current escalation, in order to reduce dangerous social polarization, prevent dehumanizing, anti-Semitic and anti-Arab manifestations, and recognise the legitimate concerns of our Jewish and Arab fellow citizens for the survival and safety of their loved ones.
Humanitarian aid and a diplomatic solution to the current situation are more than urgent. The number of dead and wounded, including children and civilians dying of starvation, war injuries and trivial diseases for which there is no cure in Gaza, is increasing every day. We must also accept our share of responsibility for preventing further victims of this humanitarian catastrophe, whether out of human solidarity with the suffering Palestinians or out of friendship with Israel.
