Around 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid will be sent to Gaza to support the civilians caught up in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and desperate for food and essential supplies.
The GDN’s ‘Save a Life in Gaza’ Ramadan campaign, which ended last month, has been very successful, with generous donations in cash and kind.
The GDN this year teamed up with the kingdom’s oldest charity, Bahrain Red Crescent Society (BRCS), and its sister operation, the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which listed items desperately needed.
They included hygiene kits, dignity kits, baby milk and food supplements, as well as medical supplies. Many kind-hearted establishments in Bahrain, including multi-faith groups and schoolchildren, came together to support the campaign with supplies and cash donations.
St Christopher’s School is donating BD5,500 along with powder baby milk cans to help alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
BRCS officials Mohammed Ibrahim and Asma Almehaizea received the donation yesterday.
This represents the money collected from the St Chris Baby Milk Campaign which was organised in collaboration with the GDN and the BRCS.
These funds will be used to provide invaluable nutritional aid to families and babies in Gaza.
“Arrangements to send the aid to Gaza will be quickened after the Arab League Summit in Bahrain next week as we make direct contact with Jordanian and Egyptian officials on the best way to move the aid,” BRCS secretary general Mubarak Al Hadi told the GDN.
“Our target delivery is by the end of the month,” he added.
“We will have two truckloads of 20 tonnes each of essential items mostly baby milk leaving Bahrain and with cash we will buy baby food supplements from the Jordanian market.
“The Palestine Red Crescent Society has asked for special baby wheelchairs and transfemoral prosthesis (artificial limbs) and we are in talks with suppliers.”
Mr Al Hadi said there are also plans to send second and third consignments.
“We know there will be continuous shortages for some time and through the growing network of supportive donors created during this campaign, we will further assess the needs of the people and come up with plans to carry on helping.”
The war broke out following a Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 and since then more than 34,500 people have been killed and more than 80 per cent of Gazans have been displaced.
In the northern Gaza Strip, the UN has warned of an imminent famine.
This is the GDN’s third annual holy month community initiative. Last Ramadan, 40 tonnes of aid went to earthquake-devastated Syria.
The first-ever GDN ‘Make a Child Happy’ Ramadan community campaign was a success in 2022 with 22,222 items being collected and distributed among the sick, orphaned and underprivileged children at the Salmaniya Medical Complex.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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