EU increases humanitarian aid in Gaza in response to escalating crisis | WPN World People News

The European Commission is giving an additional €5 million to support emergency relief operations in the Gaza Strip where a humanitarian crisis is becoming more dramatic by the day. The new funding will enable humanitarian organisations to deliver safe drinking water, emergency medical services, basic household items and hygiene kits, as well as food rations.

"I am horrified by the loss of lives and injuries caused to civilians in Gaza," said Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. "It is unconscionable that hospitals and schools, where there are terrified children, women, the sick and the elderly taking shelter, have become military targets. The appalling consequence is that in the last two days children have been killed at the rate of one an hour. It is intolerable that UN premises are subject to attacks."

Commissioner Georgieva urged the parties to the conflict to ensure safe and full humanitarian access. "It is crucial that assistance reaches these people in desperate need."

The crisis in the Gaza Strip is having a dramatic humanitarian impact on the civilian population: the recent escalation of hostilities has caused hundreds of civilian casualties and has displaced 150 000 people.

Since the beginning of this latest outbreak of hostilities the European Commission has refocused its humanitarian assistance in Gaza to respond to the most urgent needs of its people. Today's additional aid brings the Commission's total humanitarian funding in Gaza in 2014 to €23.5 million.

Source: European Commission