Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
18 April 2024 | 16:30 CAT
2 min read

At least 11 individuals, including five children, lost their lives in the recent Israeli airstrikes targeting southern Rafah. These strikes have intensified concerns among the 1.5 million displaced Palestinians in the area, who now fear the possibility of an imminent ground invasion.

According to news reports, the Israeli military has increased the presence of tanks and armoured vehicles near the border areas with Rafah, indicating preparation for a possible ground invasion of the densely populated area, where approximately 1.5 million people are taking shelter.

Ahmed Bham, Head of Gift of the Givers Search and Rescue, shares insight on the Gift of the Givers setting up a medical facility in the el-ʻArīsh camp for Gaza patients.

Bham stated that Gift of the Givers (GOTG) has provided humanitarian aid to el-ʻArīsh, with convoys entering Gaza for the past two weeks. During the coordinator’s recent visit to the region, it was observed that existing medical facilities required assistance due to the increasing number of Palestinian individuals seeking medical treatment in Egypt.

“We have been in negotiations with donator organisations in Egypt and the government sector to capacitate them to assist more of the injured people coming in; there is also a lot of pressure on the Egyptian hospitals, so we were looking at assisting them,” he said.

Bham highlighted that initially, there were challenges in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza due to various restrictions. Specifically, much of the aid intended for Gaza was being held up in el-ʻArīsh.

“Through the assistance of the Egyptians and our South African Government as well, our trucks have made it into Gaza, Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God). Over the last 2 or 3 weeks, they have allowed up to about 300 to 400 trucks, which is really nothing. Our trucks are now going through with easy delivery of aid, but there are a lot of restrictions on what can be sent. So there is a list of what type of humanitarian aid we can send in, like rice or oil and so on, and now they are allowing clothing, but they have restricted other types of humanitarian aid. If you don’t send what’s on the list, those trucks are impounded or sent back and not allowed to cross; the IDF strictly goes through the list, which is very challenging. Thankfully, our aid has been distributed in Gaza,” he said.

He emphasised that cooperation between Gift of the Givers and the government has improved, with support from our government and ongoing dialogue with the Egyptian authorities to facilitate the delivery of aid and ensure it reaches both el-ʻArīsh and Gaza.

“Today, we met the local NGOs, which are big in Egypt, to discuss what more we can do for the Palestinian brothers and sisters, like housing them and looking at their lives post-treatment. We can’t send them back into Palestine because there is nothing left there. We have to look after them for a couple of months until they can go back to Gaza when they can start rebuilding In Sha Allah (By the will of God),” said Bham.

LISTEN to the full interview with Ml Junaid Kharsany and Ahmed Bham, Head of Gift of the Givers Search and Rescue, here.