British aid agency Islamic Relief has delivered five trucks of urgent medical supplies to hospitals in Gaza including the main Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City. The trucks contained essential equipment such as syringes, disposable surgical gloves, oral tubes and bandages costing £86,000. The aid will be distributed in conjunction with the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The aid was purchased inside Gaza and emergency relief teams are working around the clock to source more medical supplies from inside the Strip.

Islamic Relief's emergency response team together with the Ministry of Health in Gaza has carried out a detailed assessment of the medical equipment the Al Shifa hospital needs to be able to cope with the ongoing emergency.

Aid workers report that the hospital urgently needs electricity generators, 500 Oxygen cylinders, five operating tables and 30 beds as it has run out of space to treat the injured.

Five intensive care unit beds are also needed along with five antithesis units, syringes and basic disposable medical equipment. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reports fifty percent of ambulances in Gaza are not in service as they require urgent repairs and the spare parts that are needed are not available inside the Strip.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 105 types of medication are no longer available in their stores and cannot be sourced inside Gaza.

''Despite severe restrictions on the movement of our aid teams on the ground, we have been able to purchase life saving medical supplies for the Al Shifa Hospital from local suppliers. We are working with the Ministry of Health in Gaza to try and purchase medical equipment from neighbouring countries and work out how we can get the supplies into Gaza'' said Hatem Shurrab, an Islamic Relief aid worker in Gaza.

Islamic Relief's emergency teams are also carrying out assessments to measure how much food is available inside Gaza and to assess its quality.

''What we are seeing in Gaza right now is unprecedented. There is urgent humanitarian need and as aid workers we are operating under extreme conditions. We have to restrict our movements due to the bombing and we have to work with electricity black outs. People in Gaza are traumatised and under extreme stress'' said Hatem Shurrab.

Islamic Relief has launched a £ 2 million appeal to purchase humanitarian aid to assist the population of Gaza.

ENDS

For more information on the situation in Gaza or to arrange an interview with Islamic Relief aid workers in Gaza call:

Shaista Aziz on:+ 44 (0) 7813675505 Jamsheed Din on: +44 (0) 7720 451 310 Or 0121 622 0663 Islamic Relief is a British international NGO with its Headquarters in Birmingham, UK. We seek to promote sustainable economic and social development by working with local communities through relief and development programmes. Established in the UK in 1984, Islamic Relief is dedicated to alleviating the poverty and suffering of the world's poorest people regardless of race, religion or gender.