Emergency Relief

EMERGENCY
Gaza Emergency Appeal

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Gaza Emergency Appeal

Please help Welfare Association to respond to the emergency in Gaza.

As Israel’s military bombardment of Gaza continues, over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed, over 82,000 injured and approximately 1.7 million, or 75% of people in Gaza have been internally displaced. In addition, 1.1 million people in Gaza now face catastrophic levels of food insecurity and famine.

Please support our Emergency Appeal for Gaza, help us to provide:

  • Medical supplies to hospitals
  • Fuel for ambulances and medical facilities
  • Water, food, clothing and bedding to thousands of displaced families

WA has already been able to provide the emergency unit of two hospitals in South Gaza with beds, equipment and medications.

WA teams’ interventions in Gaza to date:

12/10/2023: Welfare Association teams in Gaza (also displaced from their homes due to constant artillery shelling), have been able to provide hospitals with fuel, provide displaced families with essential support, and continue working to provide medications to hospitals.

15/10/2023: Last week Welfare Association‘s team in Gaza was able to source fuel and medications (from within Gaza) and get these to hospitals, and located some essential supplies to support displaced families. WA has also been able to provide the emergency unit of a hospital in South Gaza with beds, equipment, and medications.

24/10/2023: Over 2,000 families in the Gaza Strip are receiving food parcels and hygiene kits. Our WA team and local partner organisations on the ground in Gaza are distributing these parcels and kits in Rafah, Southern & Northern Gaza, and Gaza City.

28/10/2023: Emergency food parcels for displaced families in Gaza. We are preparing packages of fresh fruit & vegetables for 391 displaced families in Khan Younis. Crops are purchased directly from small farmers in Gaza. Palestinian families will receive the packages each week, for 4 weeks.

3/11/2023: WA is providing thousands of families in Gaza with food; 391 families in Khan Younis will receive fresh vegetable parcels each week for one month. We distributed food parcels and vouchers to 500 displaced families in North Gaza, some families received food parcels, while others received vouchers to shop for their essential needs.

10/11/2023: Over the past few days, we distributed emergency food parcels & hygiene kits to 500 homeless families, sheltering in four schools in Rafah, Gaza. All of these items were sourced within Gaza.

13/11/2023: This week WA teams in Gaza are delivering fresh food packages to 1,195 homeless families, in 6 shelters in Deir Al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah. They will receive these food packs each week for 4 weeks.

27/11/2023: During this week 1,655 homeless families received vital food parcels in 7 shelters located in Deir Al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah.

6/12/2023: WA teams continue distributions in shelters in Gaza, delivering thousands of bottles of water to homeless families.

10/12/2023: During this week, WA teams in Gaza distributed emergency fresh food parcels to a total of 3,300 homeless families in shelter centres in Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis.

15/12/2023: This week WA helped 1,000 children in Rafah smile for the first time in a long time – as they chose a warm jacket for winter from a nearby shop that WA opened up just for them.

21/12/2023: WA teams continue distributing emergency fresh food parcels to more than 400 displaced and hungry families in Gaza.

5/1/2024: To date, WA have provided the following in Gaza.

11/1/2024: WA is continuing to implement a range of emergency interventions to support families struggling to survive this crisis, including the distribution of fresh food parcels to 1,465 displaced families sheltering in Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah.

1/2/2024: Distribution of food parcels in Gaza has continued, with another 830 homeless families receiving packages of fresh vegetables in a shelter in Rafah.

15/2/2024: A further 600 displaced families in shelters in Deir Al-Balah and Al-Zawaida received fresh food parcels, to ensure they can feed themselves.

To date, Welfare Association has made the following Interventions in Gaza since 7 October 2023:

  • Supplying 26,800 litres of fuel to Ministry of Health (MoH) hospitals and ambulances.
  • Supporting over 18,090 displaced families residing in shelters, including 3,640 families of orphaned children with food parcels.
  • Supporting over 41,176 displaced families residing in shelters with 56,402 fresh food parcels.
  • Supporting over 26,500 displaced women and children residing in shelters with clothing.
  • Supporting over 8,246 IDP (internally displaced) families residing in shelters with 119,202 hot meals in the North, Middle and South of Gaza.
  • Supporting 4,600 IDP families residing in shelters with hygiene kits.
  • Assisting 1,200 small-scale farmers / producers by directly purchasing their fresh vegetables and distributing them to displaced families.
  • Distributing 30,000 boxes of bottled drinking water and 9,622 M3 of potable water to more than 28,050 displaced families.
  • Providing $680,000 worth of medical supplies, services, and equipment to health service providers in Southern and Northern areas of Gaza.
  • Providing primary health care services in shelters in Southern Gaza for approximately 8,000 IDPs, while paying attention to pregnant and breastfeeding women.
  • Supplying 32,300 winter blankets, mattresses, floor mats and summer covers to IDPs in shelters across Gaza.
  • Supplying personal hygiene kits (diapers) to 6,000 babies in South Gaza and 2,000 babies in North Gaza.
  • Supplying personal hygiene kits (diapers) to 2,000 elderly people and those with special needs and sanitary pads for 1,000 women in North Gaza.
  • Establishing a camp for IDPs to find refuge in Deir al Balah with 50 tents and solar panels for electricity, providing shelter to approximately 450 individuals.
  • WA (Taawon) hosted two Expert Group Meetings to address healthcare and orphan care needs in Gaza, bringing together experts and stakeholders from various Palestinian and International organisations.
  • Number of families supported = 124,000
  • Total number of beneficiaries = 576,000

Please support our Gaza Emergency Appeal – so we can continue these vital life-saving interventions.

Thank you.

To stay up to date with the ongoing situation, read the Flash Updates and Situation Reports from the UN OCHA and WHO by clicking here.

Appeal for Gaza Orphan’s Futures

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With the ongoing catastrophic bombardment of Gaza by Israel’s military forces, that began on the 7th October 2023, UN OCHA’s Update on 25th March 2025 reported that:

  • More than 50,100 Palestinians killed, many of them women and children. 
  • 113,704 have been injured, with thousands more missing and believed to be trapped under the rubble.
  • Nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced, many of them multiple times, with no safe place to go.
  • Palestinians in Gaza  face extreme deprivation, with limited or no access to health services, food, electricity or humanitarian aid. 
  • Children have lost an entire year of education. 
  • Schools sheltering displaced families have been repeatedly shelled, health-care workers and hospitals have been systematically attacked, and aid convoys have been continually blocked and even shot at.

Many more people are missing, presumably buried under the rubble, waiting for rescue or recovery. Al Jazeera news reports that in the midst of these deadly attacks at least 20,000 children have lost limbs, and estimates that more than 20,000 children have lost one or both parents in Israel’s indiscriminate bombing campaign of Gaza.

Welfare Association Programme for Gaza’s Orphans.

  • Over the last 14 years, The Welfare Association (Taawon) has supported 4,261 orphans in Gaza.
  • Welfare Association has just launched The Fund for the Orphans of Gaza, to support Gaza orphans’ healthcare (including mental health and psychosocial support – MHPSS), education, and recreational activities – for both the orphan and their caregiver until the orphan turns 18, as well as support for their basic needs.
  • Based on a study by the Palestinian Orphans Home in 2022, Gaza was then home to 26,000 orphans. It is expected that as a result on the latest attacks on Gaza the number of orphans will exceed anything we have seen before.
  • The vision of Welfare Association’s orphans programme has always been to empower orphaned children. To enable them to live a full life, pursuing their aspirations and dreams for a better future.
  • This is possible with our holistic model of providing health and educational support to the orphans based on their individual needs, in partnership with a network of civil society organizations who specialise in these areas.
  • As Welfare Association is a Palestinian NGO, we have always believed that the future of orphans in Gaza is our collective responsibility.

Please help the orphans of Gaza by sponsoring an orphan for one year: £130 monthly for 12 months, or £1,560 per year.

From the 4,261 orphans we have worked with:

  • 1,425 orphans were enrolled in kindergarten.
  • 3,456 orphans were enrolled in primary and secondary education and improved their academic performance.
  • 1,012 orphans were enrolled in universities, and up to 2023, 273 had graduated.
  • 465 orphans with disabilities and special needs were provided with equipment and therapy.
  • 2,200 orphans were provided with medical and health care.
  • 3,000 orphans and 1,100 families were provided with psychosocial support.

We use the UNICEF definition of orphan: “a child under 18 years of age who has lost one or both parents to any cause of death.”

What makes our programme holistic?

  • We not only support the child, but also the caregiver. Whether it be a surviving parent, next of kin, foster family, or orphanage, we will support them in both basic needs as well as health support, medical / primary care, and mental health & psychosocial support.
  • We support orphans’ education (school supplies, tutoring, tuition), coverage of health services, including mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and recreational activities.

Reporting

  • All donors who support an orphaned child in Gaza will receive individual information about that child. If donors are able to commit to sponsoring the child for more than one year, and preferably until the child turns 18, you will receive a regular annual report.
  • For those who are able to donate, we will send a report about the programme in general at the end of the first year, or the year in which you have donated.

We need your help to reach as many orphans in Gaza as possible, to help them to have a brighter future.

Regular Donations

Due to the continued bombardment and destruction of Gaza, with no ceasefire in sight, and the severe deterioration of living conditions with extreme shortages of basic necessities for those surviving day by day in very poor shelter and make-shift accommodations, our WA teams in Gaza recommended the launch of the Gaza Orphans’ Programme, offering emergency services to orphans and their guardians, literally to help them survive.

Welfare Association has been able to gather and verify data for almost 18,900 orphans, from 8,017 families, 31% of these orphans are under 5 years of age.

From November 2023 until February this year, our programme team in Gaza has been working with Gaza’s orphaned children.

  • A new Orphans Portal has been developed and is currently going through the final stages of testing, expected to be live in the coming weeks.
  • The data of almost 20,000 orphans, during the bombing of Gaza, has been verified and added to the portal:
    • So far, the details of 19,522 eligible orphans under the age of 18 who have lost their father has been added, with a further 2,000 orphan’s data being gathered and validated, including field visits and medical checks, etc.
    • 67% of orphans included in this programme are under 10 years of age.
    • 922 orphans have lost both parents
    • 1,018 orphans have been injured directly during the war on Gaza, more than 600 of these children require medical care
    • 315 orphaned children have become disabled as a result of their injuries, and 122 children with existing disabilities, were injured in the military attacks on Gaza, and are in need of additional medical treatment
  • We have contracted 8 specialised local NGO’s to provide services in fields of humanitarian aid, health care, and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS).
  • Our WA programme team in Gaza began providing emergency support to Gaza’s orphaned children from September 2024, and:
    • 16,183 orphans have received food parcels
    • 16,183 orphans have received clothing  
    • 14,084 children have been able to access health check-ups, and 7,083 have received medical care
    • 13,000 individual rehabilitation sessions been provided to 859 children with disabilities
    • Psychological First Aid sessions began in February 2025

Please donate to this appeal to help us to continue supporting the orphaned children of Gaza.

CURRENT SITUATION IN GAZA

With the collapse of the ceasefire and the renewal of the bombardment of Gaza, WA’s teams in Gaza have been able to continue the following services:

  • For now food is limited. Our teams in Gaza have managed to continue to provide food sourced from within Gaza (i.e. items stored in Gaza prior to this current escalation), with higher prices paid to buy this food
  • Mental health & psychosocial support and medical support is ongoing – these services are provided by the health/medical professionals we are working with, no goods need sourcing at the moment for this to continue
  • WA teams in Gaza are also planning to start some educational services

Please help us to continue this critical work, supporting children of all ages in Gaza who have suddenly been orphaned as a result of the war on Gaza.

Thank you.

Urgent Shelter Rehabilitation for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

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Support for refugees in Lebanon forced to flee the Syria Conflict and who took refuge in Lebanon

Family of six living in one room with only three beds

Lebanon is hosting more than one million Syrian refugees and 45,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria (PRS). Most of the PRS have been in Lebanon for several years now and so any cash or assets they may have had are long gone.

A recent study highlighted that 75% of PRS families are in need of clothes, 70% need blankets and 40.5% need shelter assistance. 

These families are forced to find shelter wherever they can; generally structurally unsafe, unhygienic and poorly maintained shelters lacking basic water and sanitation facilities and in overcrowded and poor conditions. UN data indicates that in PRS households, on average, each bedroom is shared by 4.6 people while each bathroom is shared by 8.4 people. 

One family knocked a wall through to connect two storage rooms to try to find a safe place to live

Securing safe housing is one of the most urgent challenges with an ever-dwindling stock of affordable and adequate housing, and the United Nations recently ended rent subsidies for PRS. The vast majority of PRS have taken refuge in the 12 Palestinian refugee camps and 39 informal gatherings throughout Lebanon. 

In the last 6 years Welfare Association has completed a number of shelter rehabilitation projects for PRS in these refugee camps and is planning to do further work to meet urgent needs in Burj El Barajneh Camp and Shatilla Camp in Beirut. The works will include:

  • Updating water and sanitation facilities for improved health and hygiene.
  • Rewiring the electricity for safety and ensuring the provision of hot water and basic cooking facilities.
  • Repairing roofing, doors and windows, for weatherproofing, security and privacy.

It costs approximately £1500 to do the basic repairs and updates on each shelter, and some shelters are accommodating up to three families.