For two years, Canadian aid organizations have struggled to get help to starving and injured Palestinians, as most borders were shuttered to international help. While the ceasefire is on, food, medicine and supplies must flow unimpeded into the region.
The eradication of USAID will have global ripple effects for decades. The agency, which had a budget of more than US$35 billion, was the backbone of much of the international assistance work in developing regions. This signals to other governments that they can also step back from their humanitarian commitments.
Despite dwindling supplies and a total blockade on anything new entering the Gaza Strip, aid organizations staffed by Palestinians themselves continue to serve the local population. However, with Israeli authorities imposing new registration requirements on INGOs, many may have to leave the Gaza Strip after working in the region for decades.
Front-line aid workers facing the same starvation and violence as their fellow Palestinians, even as they work to serve them, say humanitarian organizations. But there is still time to save lives.
