A team of three people from the Gift of the Givers Foundation is currently assisting civilians in Gaza with medical supplies, food and water.
The South African aid organisation intends to send more medical teams to assist but only if it is not at any risk to their safety.
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Dr Imitiaz Sooliman, founder of the South African aid organisation, noted a list of immediate assistance required in Gaza, including medicines, consumables, medical equipment, transport to the hospital, fuel for hospital generators, hygiene kits, clothing, towels for patients, food parcels for families of the deceased and those in distress and purchase and delivery of chronic medication.
The team is assisting by visiting hospitals in Gaza to deliver essential medical items. Hospitals in the strip are faced with a critical shortage of beds, medical supplies and medicines due to the high number of casualties.
Although there is a divide within the global community regarding the conflict in Gaza, what remains abundantly clear is the loss of civilian lives and the displacement of thousands, underscoring the conflict’s distressing human toll.
There have been thousands of reported fatalities and people wounded since the upsurge in hostilities on 7 October, with these numbers expected to rise.
In an interview with GroundUp, Dr Sooliman said, ‘This is not a thing about Jews against Muslims; it’s human against human. It’s not a religious thing, it’s a human thing … it’s about humanity. It’s in the interests of all parties to make compromises. The only way to solve the problem is to do what is just.’
The Gift of the Givers Foundation has established a presence in Gaza over the past nine years and has actively been involved in providing assistance for a women and child care centre, a health clinic and schools.
Civilians in need are also being assisted with vouchers to purchase food and non-food items.
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Picture: Gift of the Givers