Within hours of the start of the conflict on December 27, 2008, CARE began to carry out emergency activities that included the distribution of medical supplies, fresh food, hygiene kits, heaters, blankets and plastic sheeting to families and hospitals in Gaza. We continue to work amid the most trying of circumstances. But the humanitarian crisis grows ever more desperate by the day for Gaza's unimaginably poor people, half of whom are children.
"In order to meet the overwhelming needs of the population, we must have full access for humanitarian workers and material into and out of the Gaza Strip," said Martha Myers, CARE's country director for the West Bank and Gaza. As our survey shows, civilians need help and open humanitarian access remains vital.
CARE has 18 staff living and working in Gaza. They continued to distribute emergency aid throughout the fighting. Martha Myers was the first non-Gazan from CARE to access Gaza since the conflict began. Read her message, Letter to Gaza, written to CARE staff in the West Bank and Gaza.
CARE hosted a joint press conference on January 12 on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, along with our peer agencies Save the Children USA and Oxfam America. Listen to President and CEO Helene Gayle's remarks.
CARE's Jawed Harb began blogging from his home in Gaza on New Year's Eve:
While the Gaza Strip is currently facing some of the toughest challenges in the Palestinian territories, I’m writing my own very personal story. But it is also the story of 1.6 million Palestinians living in Gaza.
