GROUNDUP
Gift of the Givers on the ground providing urgent assistance to civilians in Gaza
Imtiaz Sooliman calls for negotiations and compromise. ‘The only way to solve the problem is to do what is just.’
Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of The Gift of the Givers Foundation, has appealed for negotiations, compromise and peace in the Middle East. The respected South African aid organisation has had a presence in Gaza for nine years.
Gift of the Givers doesn’t have an office in Gaza. Instead, the team of three people moves around distributing medical supplies, food and water. They are also involved in a women and child care centre, a health facility, and schools.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Middle East Crisis News Hub
Sooliman says the organisation wants to send more people. “We are preparing to send medical teams but only if it’s not any risk to them.” He says a ceasefire or safe corridor is needed before the teams can enter Gaza. The organisation has 40 medical personnel ready to go in, Sooliman told GroundUp.
On Sunday Gift of the Givers reported that the team has been under severe physical and mental stress.
In 2014 Israel attacked Gaza for seven weeks. Sooliman said his team is reporting that this time it’s completely different. “They said it’s so difficult to move around. There’s so much anxiety and so much fear. The amount of bombs being dropped has never happened before.”
On Tuesday the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that 4,200 people have been killed, and over one million people displaced, in just 10 days, while large areas of the Gaza Strip have been reduced to rubble.
The death toll includes a large number of women and children, as well as at least 11 Palestinian journalists, 28 medical staff and 14 UN workers. It also includes over 1,300 Israelis, mostly civilians, killed by Hamas on 7 October.
Sooliman said that Gaza’s people face challenges with access to food and water. “Because there’s no electricity, the sewage plants don’t work. Because they can’t do burials, the decomposed bodies are going to cause infections. Because hospitals don’t have antibiotics, there’s a threat of infection there.
“They managed to do some mass funerals yesterday. As the bodies are coming in they are doing it straight away. There are thousands of bodies lying under the rubble that they can’t reach. They don’t have the equipment, they don’t have the personnel, but above all, it’s bloody dangerous to get there,” said Sooliman.
Sooliman said that he had a meeting with the Egyptian ambassador and South Africa’s Foreign Affairs Department on Monday in an attempt to get a humanitarian aid corridor open. “We are also looking at flying supplies on a cargo plane from South Africa and sending trucks to the border in Cairo.”
Read more in Daily Maverick: Middle East Crisis News Hub
When asked how this situation compared to other humanitarian relief efforts the organisation had been involved in, Sooliman responded: “This is the worst situation in the world because there is no exit route. You can’t get out. The area is so small. It’s so easy to bomb it … Nobody can have a safety plan. Where are you going to hide? There’s no such thing as safety in Gaza.”
Gaza is only 350㎢. It could fit into Cape Town nearly seven times, yet it has half Cape Town’s population.
Sooliman described Israel’s call to evacuate more than one million people from the north to the south of Gaza as “quite ludicrous”. “How can you move 1 million people in 24 hours when there’s no fuel and no cars? Where are you going to go to? Everything is bombed. How do you move an intensive care unit patient?”
He also called for restraint from both sides. “Civilians cannot be attacked in a war and that applies to both sides … At the end of the day, both sides must remember that there is no winner in war. Everybody loses out. The only way to solve this problem in the Middle East is to make peace, act rationally and make compromises.
Masud Akkad of The Gift of the Givers in Gaza. The foundation hopes to send more people to bolster its team in Gaza, if a ceasefire can be brokered. (Photo: Supplied by GroundUp)
“This is not a thing about Jews against Muslims; it’s human against human. It’s not a religious thing, it’s a human thing … it’s about humanity. It’s in the interests of all parties to make compromises. The only way to solve the problem is to do what is just,” he stressed.
“When you act justly you will have peace, prosperity and peace in the entire region. Nobody loses out. Actually, everybody gains more. They should go to the negotiating table, make compromises and give a just solution. If you do that then we never have to send any more supplies to the Middle East again,“ Sooliman added.
He said Gift of the Givers were accepting donations for their work in Gaza. DM
First published by GroundUp.
I thought nobody can get in or out. How did they get in? Denise Smit
There are three people in Gaza, seemingly permanent (see first 2 paragraphs).
Could we not help your inveterate reader and commentator with a suggestion that they were probably smuggled in ? It would bolster the well rehearsed Israeli narrative that no entity other than themselves, can be trusted … which most Americans (and wider ‘western world’) have bought into hook, line and sinker. ‘The Occupation of the American Mind’ program does a excellent analysis of this phenomenon.
Your commentary is comedy. Makes me laugh every time
Surely we should nominate this organisation for the Nobel Peace Prize?
Even if we did … like Gandhi … it probably would not win … because of its swarthy complexion ! ?
I was one of the “moderators” asked to approve this comment. Imagine that. hahahahah. You crack me up.
Greatest respect to Dr Sooliman and his team. May humanity prevail, however, I fear this is another genocidal situation where once the blood has been spilled and maximum damage done, everything exhausted, then the world will suddenly find itself again asking “How did this happen?” and proclaim the usual platitude, “Never Again!”.
“…the usual platitude, “Never Again!”.”???
To be precise – this is a phrase associated with the Holocaust. Not to be used haphazardly in a context like this.
Dr Sooliman, you have no idea what I think of this organization you created. I have the biggest amount of respect for you as no matter what happens, you guys seem to pitch up and help FREE of charge. Hope you’re on the ballot next year. @bevcol. you think the nobel peace prize is enough? I think they should design a new prize for what this organization does, everywhere.