ISLAMIC RELIEF: GAZANS IN URGENT NEED OF FOOD AID AS BOMBING CONTINUES

British aid agency Islamic Relief has delivered four trucks of food aid to the main Al Shifa hospital in Gaza. The food aid included flour, rice, beans, tinned meat and fish. Aid workers report that before the delivery of aid reached the hospital food stocks were almost depleted and there was only enough flour to last four days.

Islamic Relief is one of the largest aid agencies operating in Gaza and has been sourcing food and medical supplies from inside the Strip. Emergency relief teams say food is running out and immediate supplies are needed from outside of Gaza in order to reduce the human suffering.

''Since the bombing started six days ago people have become more and more desperate. I've met families who are resorting to boiling weeds that they've dug out of the ground in order to feed their families. People are too scared to leave their homes and in many cases they have run out of food,'' said Islamic Relief aid worker Hatem Shurrab in Gaza.

Islamic Relief aid workers carried out an assessment to establish how much food is available in the markets and with suppliers inside Gaza. Aid workers were only able to locate 10 tons of rice for a population of 1.5 million people, and there are severely limited supplies of other food items. The UN is reporting wheat shortages and Islamic Relief aid workers say only 10 per cent of Gaza's bakeries are producing bread as a result of shortages of flour and fuel needed to keep the machinery running.

''People only leave their homes to try and find food. We are seeing long queues outside bakeries with people having to wait up to an hour or longer to be given rations of bread. The bombs can fall at anytime and it's very risky and dangerous to venture outside for food,'' said Hatem Shurrab.

Islamic Relief aid workers are sourcing food for 5,000 families across Gaza and hope to start distributing food parcels including tinned meat, vegetables, pulses and rice within the next twenty four hours.

''I have never seen the situation in Gaza as desperate as it is now. People are exhausted and every day is a struggle. We need urgent aid supplies to be brought into Gaza as the human misery is increasing hour by hour,'' said Hatem Shurrab.

ENDS

For more information or for interviews with Islamic Relief staff in Gaza please contact:

Shaista Aziz on +44 7813 675 505

Jamsheed Din on +44 77720 451 310

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.