NGOs present in Gaza call for a longer truce

The truce planned between Israel and Hamas from Thursday morning, which should allow the release of 50 hostages and last four days, has been postponed. Several NGOs, including Amnesty International, are calling for a longer truce.

NGOs present in Gaza are already campaigning for a longer truce between Israel and Hamas. This truce which was to begin Thursday, November 23, at 9 a.m. (French time) was finally postponed due to discussions “of last minute” on the “names of Israeli hostages and terms of their surrender” to a third party, says a Palestinian official.

This truce must last four days, according to the agreement reached on Wednesday November 22 between Israel and Hamas, time to release 50 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners. For several NGOs on site, the destruction is such and the humanitarian needs are so great that the announced truce will not be enough to meet the immense need for reconstruction.

The cry from the heart of NGOs

It is a real cry from the heart that Amnesty International, Handicap International, Save the Children, Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders launched on Wednesday. They all said that the situation there is catastrophic, especially for the children, and they all spoke of the difficulties for them working in Gaza. How can we seriously imagine putting Gaza back into working order in just a few days? How can we imagine treating, rebuilding and feeding more than two million people in a handful of hours?

For Joël Weiler, of Médecins du monde, this truce holds more than “the joke”, if expression is possible, only reality. “It will have zero impact, he assures. We will have four days to bring in the materials, be able to treat the wounded, to operate and four days later, there will be new bombs.”

“Four days later, we’re going to continue to blow up my drug stocks, blowing up patients.”

Joël Weiler, from Médecins du monde

at franceinfo

“Maybe the word ‘joke’ is not suitable and it perhaps goes better in English with ‘joke’ but it’s not serious”, he specifies.

Especially since during his days of truce, nothing says that everything will be done so that life can resume. This is the fear of Bushra Khalidi, from Oxfam France. “This is a question that we ask ourselves as a humanitarian organization. We are waiting for the simplest things, that is to say, for Israel to already turn the water back on, the electricity and telecommunications back on. How are we going to be able to meet the needs of 2.2 million people in a few days, when 50% of Gaza has been completely destroyed?”, she asks herself. Under these conditions, NGOs are pleading not only for a longer truce but even more for a ceasefire, which implies a more political agreement to end the conflict.