Oman sends 4th batch of aid to Gaza

13th, August 2014

MUSCAT — Putting to best use the 72-hour ceasefire in Gaza (August 11-13), Oman yesterday began delivering its fourth batch of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in a bid to help the most vulnerable victims of the 34-day Israeli war on the besieged enclave.

“The relief aid this time contains 1,000 fully self-contained portacabins (mobile homes) and 3,000 tents” purchased from Omani and Egyptian markets, Oman Charitable Organisation (OCO) told the Observer yesterday.

Earlier, on July 26, August 2 and August 8, OCO officials distributed their first, second and third consignments of relief aid, each containing around 60 tonnes of foodstuffs, water, medical supplies and blankets, among the people of Gaza.

Generally, a family of up to five can be accommodated easily in one portacabin unit. The supply of portacabins and tents is being made in the light of the feedback

from an Omani humanitarian team deployed by OCO in Gaza to assess the needs of over 400,000 civilians who have been displaced or lost their houses following the recent Israeli aggression.

Their relocation in tents and mobile homes provides a much needed solution for vulnerable Gazan refugees many of whom have been deeply traumatised and face immense hardship.

Oman stands ready to provide “whatever help is needed” to assist the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been uprooted from their refugee camps in Gaza, says Ali Ibrahim al Raisi, OCO’s Executive Chairman.

“Supplying mobile homes and tents is a concrete and important gesture of solidarity and burden sharing with other countries helping Gaza in their bid to help reduce the refugee crisis. This action, quite simply, will transform many refugees’ lives,” say Palestinian volunteers helping the OCO team in Gaza.

A number of Gazan children have witnessed the horrors of the Israeli air, ground and naval strikes and even seen members of their families killed. Therefore efforts are being made to provide child-friendly spaces around the portacabins, designed to give children a safe place to play, to ensure that they can continue to have a childhood, can recover from the deep emotional and psychological scars that the war has caused, and they even start smiling again.

The tents and portacabins are intended to provide a breath of fresh air to Gaza with hundreds of houses, schools, clinics, and mosques destroyed.

More portacabins, tents and other items will be sent in the fifth batch of Omani relief aid depending upon the directions from the OCO humanitarian team in Gaza, adds Al Raisi.

In the recent war, 2,000 Palestinians have been martyred, as many as 10,000 badly injured and 400,000 have become homeless or internally displaced. It is reminiscent of the 1982 massacre by Israel in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila camps when it invaded Lebanon and killed more than 3,500 Palestinian refugees.

Each time the OCO officials arrive in Gaza, a large number of Palestinian girls and boys wave “Thank you dear Oman” placards during the distribution of relief aid at several points in Gaza. Palestinian leaders also say they lack words to thank for Oman for its very generous support to the people of Palestine in the need of their hour.

By replacing makeshift and badly shattered residential places of Gazans with mobile portacabins and tents, Oman is taking a step that is the need of the hour for the displaced and homeless families in the besieged enclave.

Several humanitarian organisations are working with Palestinian authorities, making efforts to help the Gazan refugees, war victims and martyr families.

The Israeli war, which began with airstrikes on July 8 and full scale ground, air and naval offensive on July 17, has resulted in almost a million people having to leave their homes, becoming internally displaced.

It is the gravest refugee crisis the world has seen for many years. According to some estimates, more than 500,000 Gazans, who were already living as refugees in camps for decades, have been uprooted within the country.

Experts say the situation in Gaza is already far more than just a humanitarian crisis. If a permanent ceasefire is not found soon, the situation will worsen further.