Photo: PCRF 

GAZA MEDICAL APPEAL CLOSED

Thank you to everyone who made a contribution to this Appeal!

5 August 2020

In April this year, the scheduled medical mission to Palestine by Dr Francis and Merilin Nathan was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There are hopes, ever diminishing, for a November mission. 

While a bit of a blow, Dr Francis Merlin started the discussion around the work that the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) was doing in the Fight Against Covid-19. This then led to the setting up the Gaza Appeal in Early May 2020. 

Our Target was to raise a total amount of $15,000 for fron-line health workers in Gaza and Hebron – Specifically for PPE and infection control, and food for at-risk populations. 

We raised a total amount of $18,000 in about 6 weeks which is an amazing result!  We raised a total of $18,285 in this Appeal

From the Chair:  “I sincerely thank all who gave to this appeal.  It was quick, it was effective, it was generous at all levels. Donations ranged from $5.00 to $2000.00 (Believe me, every dollar counted). I thank APPEH – Australian-Palestinian Partnerships in education and heath for facilitating the transfer of the funds to PCRF, who have gratefully acknowledged receipt.”

COVID-19 has reached Palestine, affecting hundreds of Palestinian people living under Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem. Haaretz reported on 22 April that there were 17 known cases of the virus in Gaza and many more in the West Bank, though the true extent of its spread is not known, due to the acute shortage of test kits. Human rights groups estimate that Gaza has 60 ventilators – this for some 2 million people. The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Coordination (OCHA) reports that Gaza’s decimated health system cannot cope or prepare itself for the spread of the virus because of the severe shortage of test kits, personal protective equipment and other essentials such as ventilators and emergency medical equipment.

In response to requests, the Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) is directing its support to its long-term partner in Palestine, the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF).  The PCRF has been working throughout Palestine assisting the COVID-19 response effort.  In the Gaza Strip, the PCRF has delivered hundreds of hygiene kits, infection control supplies, and sterilisation materials to people housed under quarantine in local schools.  The PCRF has also delivered urgent medical supplies for the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, the main hospital designated by the Ministry of Health to treat COVID-19 patients.  It is vital that this work continue in order to prevent, or at least contain, the potentially catastrophic spread of the coronavirus in Gaza.

Funds raised in this appeal have been transferred via the Australian-Palestinian Partnerships in Education & Health (APPEH), a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission  (ABN 79 689 287 716).

AFOPA has been authorised by APPEH to collect and process tax-deductible donations to be directed to the Gaza Medical Appeal with APPEH. Tax receipts will be issued for your donation.

YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THIS APPEAL MEANS MORE PALESTINIANS ABLE TO ACCESS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE MEDICAL CARE IN PALESTINE.

Thank you!

Click here for further resources on the impact of Covid-19 in Palestine >>

April 2020

What Covid-19 means for the work of pcrf and the palestinian people it serves

Many friends of Palestine will know that AFOPA has, for over 15 years, supported the work of the PCRF though its sponsorship of medical missions by South Australian ophthalmologist Dr Francis Nathan and his Occupational Therapist wife, Merlin Nathan. The Nathan’s latest PCRF medical mission in April was cancelled due to the international lockdowns in place since the Covid-19 pandemic. The PCRF has suspended all foreign volunteer medical missions (of which there were 170 missions in 2019), meaning that thousands of sick and injured Palestinians will not receive the treatment that these missions make possible. PCRF has also had to postpone their other programme sending Palestinian children abroad for medical care unavailable in Palestine.

The impact of the COVID-19 virus on the work of PCRF has been enormous – the suspension of many of its medical and humanitarian programs will mean hardship and suffering for the thousands of Palestinian families it assists. But the hardship and suffering of a Covid-19 pandemic is unimaginable to Palestinians living under the harsh Israeli occupation.

PCRF, as one of the main medical relief organisations on the ground, is focusing its efforts on delivering much-needed medical support to hospitals and clinics in Gaza and the West Bank by way of medical equipment (ventilators, testing kits, oximeters), personal protection equipment and hygiene kits.

To support this vital work we ask you to give now, as generously as you can. Whatever you can give will make a difference.