Subject: ANERA in GAZA - update of Sunday August 3rd We are on that emotional roller coaster again. Rumors abound of a partial ground retreat. The staff continue to hold onto that hope and we don’t disabuse them of that. The news from Netanyahu’s office indicates no desire to talk. Bombing on Friday nite in Gaza City was very tense. Some staff were in shock that the city’s largest mosque was destroyed. The violence continues to impact our work. A water trucking company was filling its tankers for delivery of potable water to neighborhoods we selected in Khan Younis. A battle severed the electrical lines from Egypt to the area. As a result, none of their pumps can fill the tankers. We are hoping the vendor finds generators but as you can imagine they are scarce. Prior to this the Egyptian lines had been relatively reliable. That was Saturday. He called us today with a generator but now the cost will be 30% higher to accommodate the rental and use of fuel. We are seeing prices and terms fluctuate based on the changing ground conditions. In that same area, we were scheduled to deliver approximately 1000 food parcels on Sunday. That delivery has been re-routed elsewhere. We can’t safely drive the Salaheddin Road thru the center of Gaza. Instead, we will remain in Gaza City which is rampant with needs. Approximately 1000 parcels will go to an Orthodox Church compound in the Old City and the Holy Family Catholic school nearby. Both are harboring hundreds of families, almost none of whom are Christian. Apparently, the neighborhood has been impressed with that welcome and asked that we relieve some of the church’s burden. Almost 2000 more parcels will go various locations suggested by the UN but not in schools. Some of the outlying, informal gatherings have received little. Finally, several ambulances were arranged to pickup meds in our warehouse. Red Crescent and the main surgical hospital will get the bulk. With another shipment enroute to Kerem Shalom, we need room in the warehouse and they need the meds. Saturday, we delivered our first 2 trucks of bottled water. These went to Gaza City, primarily Beach Camp, which has been devastated. This has been funded by USAID under our PCID grant for water. Never did we think we would be delivering water this way. Sunday another 2 trucks came thru Kerem Shalom. They are destined for another UN facility. Exactly where is revealed only at the last minute based on IDF instructions for clear roads. Coordination for security and transportation can involve 200 phone calls per day. On Friday we had been scheduled to start these convoys. But that is when the Rafah (post-“kidnap”) violence began and it actually killed a truck driver on this same route. Understandably, our shipments were delayed. A truly sad note … shipments of bread started today from the West Bank. From this point, all large amounts of pita will need to come from outside of Gaza. All internal capacity (industrial) has been destroyed. So, Gazans will be dependent on the outside for yet another basic. If timing is correct, we may need to loan some of our warehouse space to the World Food Program (WFP) for storage and distribution of bread. An interesting incident …various NGO’s were approached with thousands of hygiene kits assembled in Israel and free for Gaza. The “catch” was that all were branded with stickers identifying them as gifts of the IDF. The Israelis were shocked when agency after agency rejected their offer. ANERA was not approached. If we have a respite, we may be able to deliver more projects. We expect there will also be requests for Damage Assessments by our technical teams. Whether it’s USAID or others, we will need caution and due diligence. There is much unexploded ordinance. Moreover, many of the damaged buildings remain unsteady.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 22:15:01 +0000
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