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The war in Gaza continues to take a devastating toll on civilians, and there is now a further escalation in violence in Lebanon and across the region.

No-one and nowhere is safe in Gaza.

People who survive the relentless airstrikes are living in overcrowded shelters, in tents, on the streets. With little food or clean water. If bombs don't kill them, disease or starvation are round the corner. This is an appalling humanitarian catastrophe. The failure to reach a ceasefire, and end the atrocities in Gaza, is fuelling further escalations in violence, in Lebanon and across the region.

Your donation will help provide emergency food, clean water and hygiene kits, and repair water and wastewater networks in Gaza. And your support will help people forced to flee their homes due to the violence in Lebanon.

Last updated: 26 September 2024

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN GAZA AND LEBANON?

More than 40,000 people have been killed, a third of them children.

101 Israeli hostages remain captive.

Food, water, fuel and medicine are all running out.

People are being starved. Malnutrition is rife. All of Gaza is at risk of famine.

People are drinking dirty water, risking deadly diseases.

Gaza's water and sanitation systems are shattered. Homes, hospitals, bakeries and water facilities have been destroyed.

Relentless airstrikes continue to hit civilians, shelters and hospitals.

The escalation of hostilities in Lebanon has inflicted immense damage on civilian infrastructure and led to a tragic loss of life. Over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since October last year.

The situation is devastating. People desperately need an immediate and permanent ceasefire to end the death and destruction, allow the delivery of more aid and enable the safe release of hostages. The failure to reach a ceasefire, and end the atrocities in Gaza is fuelling further escalations in Lebanon and across the region.

Find out more about what is happening in Gaza.

WHAT IS OXFAM DOING IN GAZA?

The continuing bombardment has made a full-scale humanitarian response impossible.

Oxfam teams are working along with partners doing what they can to deliver life-saving aid, but it is not enough.

Only a small amount of aid is being allowed in by the Israeli authorities.

Even when aid gets into Gaza, Israel's ongoing violence and deliberate obstruction of the humanitarian response, makes it virtually impossible to provide help to all those that need it.

More than 2 million people are still in desperate need of aid.

So far, despite huge obstacles, we have been responding with our partners to reach over 490,000 people. These include the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, Juzoor, The Cultural & Free Thoughts Association, Palestinian Environmental Friends, Palestine Agricultural Relief Committee, Atfaluna, The Association for Woman and Child Protection, the Economic and Social Development Centre of Palestine, and Al Bayader.

They have provided:

• Emergency food assistance, including fresh vegetable baskets, food parcels, cash and vouchers to over 200,000 people.
• Clean water and sanitation for over 133,000 people, by trucking in water and repairing badly damaged water and wastewater pipelines, as well as installing desalination units, water bladders and tap stands.
• First aid kits and services to support around 20,000 people in refugee camps, as well as 600 urgent family health packages, 400 hygiene kits and 3,000 protection kits.
• Thousands of blankets, pillows mattresses and sleeping mats to families to families forced to live in tents.
• Oxfam and PEF are working towards providing water, sanitation and hygiene services to at least 25,600 displaced people in Rafah and Khan Younis.

Oxfam has worked in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel since the 1950s to help build and protect rights to water, sanitation and hygiene, cash assistance and more.

Any donation you make will help us respond. Our decision to respond in any crisis is always driven by humanitarian need alone. Even before this escalation, 80% of people living in Gaza relied on aid.

WHAT IS OXFAM DOING IN LEBANON?

Oxfam is responding to the escalating crisis in Lebanon, providing essential support to people who have been forced to flee as Israeli airstrikes bombard their homes and communities.

The influx of internally displaced people, primarily from southern Lebanon, will quickly create disastrous conditions for local communities, beyond the ability of an overloaded international humanitarian system to properly meet.

Oxfam and our partners are supporting internally displaced people in shelters in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and North Lebanon with clean water and sanitation, emergency cash, food, and hygiene and menstrual hygiene kits.

Do people have enough food and water in Gaza?

Food is being deliberately restricted. Starvation is being used as a weapon of war. The UN reports that half a million people - a quarter of the population - are starving. Famine is imminent.

A staggering 2.3 million people urgently need food. Some of the food allowed in, like rice and lentils, is of little use as people have no clean water or fuel to prepare them.

There is not enough clean, safe water in Gaza. The situation is desperate.

The UN Water, Sanitation and Hygiene cluster, of which Oxfam is a member, says only three litres of water a day per person is now available in Gaza.

The World Health Organisation recommends in an emergency one person needs between 7.5 and 20 litres of water each day to meet basic health needs.

"The water is disgusting, most people are having to drink [salty] water from wells. There is no electricity, so we have to fill buckets and carry up to the roof tank. Our whole family are sick with diarrhoea.” – an Oxfam member of staff in Gaza

HOW CAN YOU HELP GAZA?

The ongoing hostilities are making it far harder to respond at the scale that's needed. An immediate and permanent ceasefire is desperately needed.

• Sign the petition calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire.
• Email your MP to keep pressure on UK leaders to act
• More suggestions for how to help Gaza

How we spend your money

For every £1 you donate to this emergency appeal, we will allocate 9p of your donation to cover general support and running costs. There is a small chance that we will raise more money than is needed for this appeal. If this happens, we'll spend any additional funds on other Oxfam projects — wherever the need is greatest.

Destroyed buildings in Gaza. Image: Marwan sawwaf/Alef MultiMedia/Oxfam