Eight months after the end of the fighting in the Gaza Bank, many impoverished Gazan households face both increasing food insecurity and ongoing unemployment. To improve food security for vulnerable households and socio-economic conditions for farmers, ACTED purchased food from poor farmers and distributed it to poor families, in the framework of a project funded by United Cities France/ Decentralized Cooperation Network for Palestine (CUF/RCDP). This timely intervention enabled impoverished families to cope with the additional costs of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
For many people in Gaza, the month of Ramadan is a time for reflection and prayer, and the gathering of loved ones at sunset to break the daily fast. However, for Gaza many poor, Ramadan represents additional costs they can ill afford: families are expected to invite relatives to the breaking of the fast meal and buy new clothes for their children for the Eid celebration.
As a consequence of the Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip, which prevents virtually all import and export activity, more than 70 percent of Gazans now live in poverty and around 44 percent are unemployed (according to the International Committee of the Red-Cross, ICRC). Thousands of families affected by the military offensive have been unable to recover. In the context of tight closure, farmers struggle to find markets and fair prices for their products.
During Ramadan, ACTED was able to support Gaza poorest by purchasing fresh food items from 350 poor farmers and by distributing them to 1,250 poor families at seven distribution points in North Gaza and Gaza districts. The families were provided with cartons of fresh vegetables - including tomatoes, potatoes, onions, eggplants, peppers, eggs and cauliflowers - as well as a bag of dates, with which Muslims traditionally break their Ramadan fast.
Gharib Al Haj (44 years old), a beneficiary from Az-Zeitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City, explained that the project came at a crucial time for his family: "I have a wife and eight children, aged seven to twenty-two; it is really difficult to afford enough food for the Ramadan evening meals." Gharib lost his job as a driver when the second Intifada erupted in 2000 and has since been unemployed.
Gharib is all the more concerned that his house was heavily damaged during the fighting. "We came back to find all these holes in the roof. I am now getting really worried about the winter. We also lost all our blankets and winter clothes." Gharib greatly appreciates the efforts of ACTED: "The international organizations are doing a great job," he says, "they help us with food and coupons; still, what I need most is a job".
Even though ACTED is currently responding to the critical needs of the Gaza population, the words of Gharib remind us that a great deal of work remains to be done before stability is restored to Gaza. As ACTED increases the scale of its activities and presence in the Gaza Strip, so does its ability to play a key role in the humanitarian recovery of this conflict-affected society.