EU humanitarian aid for Palestinian Territories

The European Commission has adopted an emergency decision to provide relief worth €3.5 million to victims of the conflict in the Palestinian Territories. This is on top of the €5 million in humanitarian aid allocated at the beginning of April. The funds are managed by the Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and are being channeled through seven of ECHO's experienced NGO partners in the region and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). ECHO is a Commission department, which comes under the responsibility of Commissioner Poul Nielson.

Initially, the amount foreseen for this decision was around €1.7 million, as announced by Commissioner Nielson earlier in April. The funding has now been increased to €3.5 million to reflect the growing needs being reported as clearer information emerges about the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian Territories.

The aim of this decision is to help meet the needs of vulnerable Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza through the distribution of food, medicines, medical supplies, hygiene kits, cooking fuel and other basic essentials. Funding is also being provided to help restore clean water supplies and boost professional medical coverage. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has already airlifted six ambulance vehicles from Brussels funded by this decision.

Specific areas of operation include Jenin, which suffered widespread destruction following the incursion by the Israeli army and Ramallah, where the hospital is facing a serious shortage of medicines. Assistance is also being provided to numerous villages, which were cut off during the recent military intervention.

The speedy and effective delivery of this assistance depends on the willingness of the Israeli authorities to allow access by humanitarian agencies to the affected areas. Some access has been granted for aid supplies in recent days but a number of NGOs continue to face serious obstructions.

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• EU food aid to the Palestinian populations (10/4/2002)
• EU budgetary assistance to Palestinian Authority (3/4/2002)