“We continue our mission with determination”

Jan 30, 2025

In the last 12 days, you have seen stories from Gaza about the relief that the Israeli attacks have stopped, the joyful reunions of displaced family members, the huge numbers of people returning to northern Gaza, and trucks of food and critical aid finally entering Gaza.

These are still part of the experience in Gaza but each day the reality of the massive destruction and loss sinks in, along with the search for basic necessities for survival.

As you probably know, Wafaa is a longtime MECA staff member who has been leading MECA’s Emergency response in Gaza since the genocide began. We share her words from Gaza along with an update about MECA’s work since the temporary ceasefire began:

Right now, the Israeli military genocide against Gaza is over. It may have stopped for only a few days. We do not know exactly what Israel’s plan is. The only fact we know is that now another brutal war attacks us with hunger, thirst, and the collapse of education, health, infrastructure, and housing.

When we visited some areas after the Israelis withdrew, we saw something incredible: Destruction at its highest and worst levels. Gaza is now a ghost town. All of the familiar landscapes and landmarks have disappeared. People are shocked, collapsed, hungry, and confused.

All of us in MECA were shocked for some time too. But quickly we were able to ignore our wounds, gather our team, and continue our mission with determination. We must continue.

Since the start of the ceasefire, we have provided relief aid and basic necessities for tens of thousands of families from north to south, including:

Water. New “Maia” purification and desalination unit installed in a hospital in Gaza City that will also bring clean drinking water to benefit the families in the neighborhood. Twelve other Maia units provide clean water to families in the south and north. Daily distributions of water from trucks to families in in the north, south, including for the huge number of families returning to northern Gaza.

Food. MECA’s three solar-powered community kitchens that were almost completely out of food before the ceasefire are now cooking at least 10,000 meals a day. Local women are baking fresh bread at one kitchen and we are figuring out where we can open more community kitchens. MECA’s team immediately distributed more than 6,000 boxes of fresh fruit to families in northern Gaza, 2,000 boxes fresh produce in central Gaza, and 1,400 food parcels in southern Gaza.

Other aid. Thousands of hygiene kits, 10,000 blankets, and 1,300 mattresses, diapers for children and people with disabilities, milk, and more.

MECA’s staff, partners and volunteers are working as hard as ever. They are glad to be working in relative safety, with the increased amount of aid. But that is still not enough. Very few people have homes or belongings to go back to. Many were already near starvation. We are shifting our work as hundreds of thousands of displaced people return to where they were living before the genocide. We are moving the latrines, the Maia water units, the kitchens, and the clinics, and getting necessities to people wherever they are. 

We continue to grieve the people we lost, and we are so grateful for those who survived to support the survival of so many. Many thanks for your support and your solidarity.