SOS Children Gaza news update

Gaza update from SOS Children in the Gaza Strip, 29 Dec 2008

All children, mothers and co-workers living in the SOS Children's Village compound in the southern Gaza Strip are unharmed. The site is close to Rafah, in the southwest of the Gaza Strip, and was given to SOS Children's Villages for a new village in 1999. This area has a particularly high population density, and also suffers from high levels of poverty.

The village comprises 12 family houses and a nursery with room for 160, mostly local, children. There is also a primary school, with capacity for 130 pupils and an SOS Social Centre, which includes a small emergency medical unit run in co-operation with the Palestinian Ministry of Health

SOS's facilities have not been directly hit by the Israeli air raids, which started on December 27th, but the school, kindergarten and training facilities have been shut until some security and calm returns to Gaza. The situation in the area around the village is serious and extremely dangerous. Many nearby buildings have been hit and destroyed since the violence started.

With the exception of cooking gas, the village director of SOS Children Rafah, Mr. Wael Abu Mustafa, was able to stock up sufficient food supplies for the families.

Gaza is witnessing shortages of food and medical supplies and its hospitals are rapidly filling with the dead and injured. Many residents of Gaza have fled their homes to seek refuge in the streets, despite the cold weather. Schools, universities and public facilities, as well as some private shops in the Gaza Strip, are closed for security reasons. At this point, it is unclear when peace and calm will return to Gaza.