Singaporeans’ support sees to Gazans’ growing water and winter worries
Gaza City, occupied Palestinian territory, 27 December 2012 - Mercy Relief's (MR) second response team entered the conflict zone of the Gaza Strip to personally deliver S$35,000 of water filtration systems and distribute food rations and heaters to the conflict-stricken victims. Together with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), MR also completed the equipping of a $S30,000 ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) suite at the Al Quds Hospital for the diagnosis and treatment of high number of disorders related to areas around the head and neck.
MR’s 6-man team arrived in Cairo on Christmas Day and headed to Gaza through the Rafah Crossing, carrying along half a dozen units of the Singapore NGO's in-house designed and developed water filtration systems, known as PedalPure, to help improve the quality of water for consumption. Each PedalPure has a filtration capacity of 700litres/hour. The 6 units were deployed at vulnerable areas in Gaza for affected communities including the northern area of Safa, located 400 metres from the Israeli border-town of Ashqelon.
MR Team 2 Coordinator Khairulnizam Massuan said, “The crisis faced by the Palestinians is a chronic one with no straightforward solutions. Due to the import restrictions imposed on them, it is less-than-convenient to bring in relief supplies to the Gazans. With the onset of the coldest 40 days of winter starting Christmas Day and the rough chilly winds from the Mediterranean Sea, the priority is to provide these refugees with food, heating and medicines to see their well-being through this next month, provided there is no further hostility in the meantime.”
Earlier in November, in response to the appeals made by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Red Crescent Societies of Palestine and Egypt for humanitarian relief to Gaza, MR's first relief mission was in Cairo and Jerusalem to work with the Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) and the WHO to provide SGD50,000 of medical supplies through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings respectively. Whilst in Israel then, the MR team visited the conflict-affected Israeli town of Kiryat Malachi to better understand the situation on both sides of the border.
Singapore’s faith-based institutions including the Taoist Federation, the Methodist Church, the Rahmatan Lil’ Alamin Foundation (RLAF) and Darul Arqam have stepped forward to contribute and support MR’s ongoing humanitarian efforts in Gaza.