wfn.org | CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: FOOD, MEDICAL AID ENTERS GAZA

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

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Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, media@churchworldservice.org
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NEWS UPDATE

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: FOOD, MEDICAL AID ENTERS GAZA
Scope of current emergency, rehabilitation, child trauma needs 
'tough, disturbing'

NGO Campaign Calls for Greater U.S., International Pressure for Ceasefire

**EDITORS NOTE: DOWNLOADABLE HIGH-RES PHOTOS OF BOMBED GAZA CLINIC 
AVAILABLE AT:  http://www.churchworldservice.org/hires

NEW YORK CITY - Tues. Jan. 13, 2009- Responding to the Gaza 
humanitarian crisis, global relief and development agency Church 
World Service reports that three CWS-supported delivery trucks laden 
with emergency food and medical supplies have been unloaded at Kerem 
Shalom checkpoint at the Gaza border for transport to Gaza City. The 
supplies, expected to arrive in Gaza by 7:00 this evening, will 
immediately be dispatched to Al-Ahli Hospital.

The delivery includes nearly US$68,000 in medical supplies as a first 
shipment, along with 12,000 cartons of high protein biscuits for children,
20,300 liters of fortified milk, and blankets and quilts. CWS, a 
member of international aid alliance Action by Churches Together, is 
supporting relief efforts being carried out by ACT member agencies on 
the ground.

CWS partners have been attempting to reach Gaza medical clinics they 
support, one of which was destroyed in an airstrike over the weekend.

Both food and medical aid are still in critical supply, says Church 
World Service.

There are reports that the United Nations will be streamlining all 
aid delivery in the Gaza Strip starting Wednesday morning.

Even with the deliveries that have gotten through, the overall 
security situation remains perilous, reports Zack Sabella of the 
Middle East Council
of Churches' Department of Service to the Palestinian Refugees 
(DSPR). In an interview yesterday he said: "Bombardments still 
continue" in Gaza, and predicted that Gaza "will need so much after 
this, in terms of trauma counseling and rehabilitation. It will be very tough.

> "It's disturbing and sad."

On Saturday (Jan. 10) Israeli missiles struck and leveled the CWS- 
and ACT-assisted Shaja-ih clinic in Gaza City.

"The poorest have lost their only health care," said Sabella. "The 
clinic was completely destroyed with all its equipment and medical supplies."

Minutes before the strike, Israeli forces fired a warning missile 
next to the site, so the building was evacuated and no one was 
injured when a direct hit by the Israeli Air Force razed the building 
completely.

In a statement, ACT said the building was targeted by the Israeli Air Force.

The Middle East Church Council that runs the clinic was renting its 
offices in the three-story building, ACT reported. According to the 
church council,
the Israelis were targeting the owner of the building, who was living 
in its upper level.

Shaja-ih Clinic was established in 1968 to provide free medical 
treatment to the surrounding Shijaiya community, where most of its high-density
population live below the poverty line. Shaja-ih Clinic had 
concentrated its service on pregnant women and children.

CWS and ACT are also assisting Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, run by 
the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which continues to receive and 
care for up to 40 patients each day who are injured, wounded or 
burned. Already stressed because of lack of staff and supplies, Al 
Ahli is also now receiving up to 15 patients a day referred from Al 
Shifa Hospital, also in Gaza City.

Last week, Church World Service announced a comprehensive response to 
the crisis, including humanitarian relief, protection for refugees 
and those displaced by the attacks, advocacy for intensified measures 
to create a just peace, and a public appeal for U.S. donations
http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5780
to further assist people suffering through the crisis.

From Jerusalem, ACT spokesperson Liv Steinmoeggen reports that 
Church World Service-supported trauma therapists are still waiting to 
enter Gaza.

CWS Emergency Response Program Director Donna Derr said, "We are 
deeply concerned for the welfare of children who may be traumatized by the
violence. The recent reports of children found huddled by their dead 
parents only magnify that concern.

"There is and will be an enormous need for social workers and trauma 
and psychological specialists for the children of Gaza," she said.

Derr said CWS's longtime partner in the region the Middle East 
Council of Churches and its Department of Services to Palestinian 
Refugees (DSPR) are calling for skilled clinicians to assist at three 
permanent clinics in Gaza, for at least six months after the violence stops.

According to OCHA and the Palestinian Ministry of Health, about a 
third of the people killed in Gaza so far have been children.

Two-thirds of the people now suffering in Gaza are refugees or IDPs 
(internally displaced persons). CWS is urging the governments of Israel and
Egypt to allow civilians who want to leave the bloodshed to do so 
safely, as recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Church World Service is also asking U.S. congressional leaders, State 
Department officials and Israeli and Egyptian ambassadors to assist in
supporting Gazan refugees' rights to protection, citing the fact that 
both Israel and Egypt are signatories to the 1951 UN Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees.

As well, the agency is calling its nationwide grassroots Speak Out 
advocacy network
http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=155 
to action, asking people to immediately press their lawmakers in 
Washington to urge U.S. diplomatic action to end the fighting in Gaza 
and renew a meaningful process toward peace with justice for 
Palestinians and Israelis.

Church World Service has joined churches and other faith-based 
organizations worldwide in calling for immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

In December, Church World Service Executive Director Rev. John L. 
McCullough and other U.S. Christian leaders sent a letter to 
President-elect Barack Obama urging him to make Israeli-Palestinian 
peace an immediate priority.
CWS has longtime presence in the Middle East. The agency was one of 
the few U.S.-based NGOs that provided aid in Iraq--mostly to 
children--prior to the U.S. invasion, and during the conflict.

HOW TO HELP: Contributions may be made online at
http://www.churchworldservice.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&df_id=1463&DONATION_LEVEL_ID_SELECTED=1&1463.donation=root 
, by phone
(800-297-1516), or sent to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN
46515.