Equipment and medicines for Gaza Hospitals

The Wahat al-Salam - Neve Shalom voluntary Humanitarian Aid Committee purchased medicines in Israel valued at $10,000 and shipped them through PHR to Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Separately, WASNS coordinated with the Arava Institute to provide a water generator to the Nasser Hospital, giving another $10,000 for that project.

In both cases, earmarked donations were received by the American Friends of Neve Shalom - Wahat al-Salam.

Originally, the support for Al-Shifa (Gaza’s largest hospital) was intended to help purchase new hospital beds. However, due to Israel’s ongoing closure of the Gaza Strip and a debt crisis of the Palestinian Health Ministry, the hospital is currently suffering from a 50% shortage of medicines required for patients suffering from chronic diseases such as kidney disease, diabetes, gynecological diseases and cancer (see: Gaza health ministry warns of ‘unprecedented’ shortage of medicines, medical supplies). The Hospital director made it clear that this took greater priority and received special permission to ship the medicines through the border. On July 23, with the help of Mobile Clinic Director Dr. Salah Haj Yahya of Physicians for Human Rights, we were able to send the medicines directly to the Gaza Hospital.

In a separate case, the Arava Institute of the Negev appealed to us for cooperation in providing a water generator to the Nasser Medical Centerin Khan Younis, Gaza’s second largest hospital. The WASNS HAP committee, headed by Anwar Dawood, approved the donation of $10,000 towards the project. A description can be found in the Jerusalem Post. The machine converts air to water, producing about 5,000 liters (1,320 US gallons) of clean water per day. Due to the salinization of the depleted coastal aquifer, procuring fresh water is a severe problem in the Gaza Strip (see: Water Crisis may make Gaza inhabitable by 2020).

Wahat al-Salam - Neve Shalom warmly thanks the American Friends of Neve Shalom - Wahat al-Salam for making this important humanitarian aid possible.