Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) charities support families on the move to northern Gaza, as UK donations continue to provide a “lifeline”

Spokespeople available for interview, and images can be found here.

Disasters Emergency Commitee (DEC) charities are working to support some of the tens of thousands of people now returning to northern Gaza, with several hundred thousand  expected to move in the coming weeks from displacement camps and shelters in the south.  

UK donations to the DEC Middle East Humanitarian Appeal are enabling DEC charities and their local partners to begin adapting  and expanding their programmes to provide vital aid to some of the many families on the move.  

Over 90 percent of homes are estimated to have been destroyed or damaged across Gaza, as well as a huge amount of essential infrastructure. More than 2 million people need urgent humanitarian aid, with dire shortages of food and clean water across the Gaza strip.  

 DEC charities are doing as much as they can to meet the huge levels of need, distributing fresh vegetables and hot meals at shelter sites, providing hygiene kits and water desalination facilities, and setting up mobile health clinics so they can deliver critical medical care where it is needed most.  

One aid worker in Gaza told the DEC that people are returning to their communities, despite many knowing already they no longer have a home to go to. “People are on the move back ‘home’ as they feel better to have a tent on their homeland than a tent somewhere else. They have been living in tents for 15 months everywhere - on traffic islands, roads, even on the beach.”

“I’m concerned that everyone will think our problems are all over, but now is the time to recover, rebuild and reconstruct. We need help now more than ever.”

The DEC’s Middle East Humanitarian Appeal has so far raised more than £39 million since it launched in October, and DEC charities are supporting people in need across Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Syria thanks to generous donations by the UK public.  

With the ceasefire in place in Gaza, hundreds of trucks of humanitarian aid have been entering every day, and more essential items are becoming available again at local markets.  

DEC charities and their local partners are working to scale up and adapt their operations to reach more families with urgent aid, but the levels of need are huge and complex with so many people on the move.  

As well as lifesaving essentials, they are working to provide mental health support to the many children dealing with trauma, and supporting informal schools so displaced children can access education.

Rami*, an 11 year-old boy displaced from North Gaza, said:

“I was very happy when I heard about the ceasefire. When we return to Gaza City, we will wait for the schools to reopen and be repaired so we can continue our education and lives. Our life in the tents is not good due to a lack of water, food, the heat of the sun, the cold of winter, and the rain that floods us. My family will clean our house of rubble and dust and repair the broken windows. My message to the world is to help us rebuild the schools so we can return to our education.”

Saleh Saeed, Chief Executive of the DEC, said:  

“Over the past few days I’ve been speaking to colleagues in Gaza about the impact of the ceasefire. There’s a real sense of relief, but also of sadness and grief as people start returning to their communities and realise the scale of loss and destruction. With so many families in urgent need, our member charities and their trusted local partners are doing all they can to scale up and adapt their work right now. We’re already seeing the impact of more aid entering Gaza: fresh food in the market with prices falling, more clean water and better access to basic supplies. Generous donations to the Middle East Humanitarian Appeal have been providing a real lifeline to so many, but with people now on the move again and beginning to look to the future having lost everything, they urgently need our support. Please donate now.”  

*Name changed to protect identity 

Notes to editors  

Media enquiries please call 07930 999 014 or 07890 839 270 (out of hours).  
Interview requests: For spokespeople, pictures and b-roll please contact: sgard@dec.org.uk

About the DEC: The DEC brings together 15 leading UK aid charities at times of crisis overseas to raise funds quickly and efficiently. In these times of crisis, people in life-and-death situations need our help, and our mission is to save, protect and rebuild lives through effective humanitarian response.  

All 15 of the DEC’s members are either responding or planning to respond in the Middle East and will receive funds from this appeal. Some may work through trusted local partners.  

They are Action Against Hunger, ActionAid UK, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide UK, International Rescue Committee UK, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Oxfam GB, Plan International, Save the Children UK, Tearfund and World Vision UK.