Current context
We have watched with broken hearts as the possibility of peace from a ceasefire has seemed to disappear. Airstrikes, shelling and gunfire are still reported in Gaza, continuing to kill and injure Palestinians. While winter flooding has made the tents where thousands of people are living uninhabitable.
There has been in increase in food and other aid supplies allowed across the borders since the ceasefire began, but damaged infrastructure, lack of storage and Israeli restrictions on what can be imported mean the current levels of support are not a long-term solution.
Our prayer today, as it has been for many years, is for a stop to the violence and for all Palestinians and Israelis to experience the fulness of peace, safety and dignity that we believe God desires for them.
Our response
CLWR has long-term partnerships with Lutheran World Federation and DanChurchAid/Norwegian Church Aid (DCA/NCA) in Gaza and the West Bank, who have worked closely with Palestinian community organizations for decades.
CLWS is currently supporting LWF which operates Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem. The hospital has played a pivotal role in not just the West Bank but Gaza during this crisis. For decades AVH has provided medical care, including oncology, to patients from Gaza. Now when many patients in Gaza cannot get to Jerusalem to receive care, the hospital is providing remote diagnostic and cancer care for patients in Gaza through an AVH clinic at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital.
LWF is also providing financial support for doctors at the hospital clinic so that despite damage to infrastructure, restrictions on supplies and high patient volumes, they can remain open and provide life-saving medical care. They are also working to bring in a shipment of medication in coming months as more than half of essential medications are completely out of stock in Gaza.
Since 2023 your support through CLWR has also enabled LWF to distribute winter clothes, food parcels, blankets and hygiene kits, and has supported DCA/NCA as they provided emergency food, clean water, hygiene supplies and shelter to people in Gaza. DCA has also restored and constructed water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza.
Critically, both DCA/NCA and LWF have been at the frontlines of providing trauma care for Palestinians — especially children — who have lived for years with the sounds of bombs falling and being repeatedly displaced.
Thank you for your ongoing support for this work.