UPDATE: CONFLICT IN GAZA
Responding to Urgent Needs
For almost 2 years, IOCC has provided support to over 33,000 people in Gaza, of which more than 6,500 were children or youth. This assistance has included food parcels and hot meals, medicine and healthcare resources, psychosocial support, and education.
Emergency Food, Water, and Shelter Supplies
To assist displaced people, including hundreds still sheltering in church buildings, IOCC has provided emergency food, clean drinking water, and hygiene kits. Support has included fresh meat and produce as available, along with shelf-stable staples such as flour, rice, cooking oil, and canned food. Disposable plates, utensils, and cups have also been distributed to maintain hygiene and meet urgent needs in overcrowded shelters.
In addition, IOCC has organized the provision of hot daily meals to ensure displaced individuals receive adequate nutrition amid tremendous hardship. Essential shelter supplies like plastic sheeting and other items have been supplied to support maintenance needs such as covering for broken windows and insulation for damaged buildings.
IOCC has also expanded its support to include fresh vegetables and fruits whenever possible, improving dietary diversity. Essential non-food relief items such as fuel have been provided for the electrical generators which pump water for drinking and domestic use, as well as cooking gas for preparing hot food. This integrated package of food and non-food assistance aims to meet immediate needs while promoting dignity and resilience among displaced families.
Help for Infants and Children
To ensure that infants and young children have the food they need amid severe shortages, IOCC has provided baby formula and potable water to families affected by this conflict. Parents and caregivers have also received diapers to help maintain health and hygiene. In addition to nutritional and hygiene support, IOCC is working to ensure child well-being by supplying age-appropriate food items such as milk, juice, and small portions of fresh fruit when available.
Medical Support
IOCC has provided medicine to displaced people, especially those with chronic conditions, helping the elderly and ill, including children, to manage their health amid upheaval. Life-saving medication for asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart conditions were among the supplies delivered.
Emergency Psychosocial Support and Recreational Activities
The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip has taken a devastating toll on mental and physical health, especially among children. In response, IOCC is delivering crucial psychosocial and recreational support to displaced children and their caregivers in central Gaza. IOCC’s initiatives offer a lifeline to those affected, providing a safe space and structured services to help them cope with trauma and instability. Through services like individual and group counseling, psychosocial first aid, and various recreational activities, IOCC is helping children and families improve their mental well-being and build resilience for the future.
Emergency Educational Support
Due to the conflict and the ongoing crisis, the destruction of schools has left hundreds of thousands of children without safe spaces to learn, hindering their access to education and producing long-term cognitive, social, and emotional development problems. In response, IOCC has established temporary learning spaces in Central Gaza. These spaces serve displaced children along with their caregivers. IOCC support is helping these children reach their full educational potential through quality remedial education in core curriculum subjects. Each child also receives an educational kit, engages in extracurricular activities to foster personal development and resilience, and benefits from weekly healthy snacks.
Impact
The impacts of this conflict will be deeply felt and long-lasting. Long-term needs will include rebuilding housing and infrastructure and providing emotional and spiritual care. IOCC remains committed to humanitarian work in the Holy Land, to our staff there, and especially to the thousands of people already helped by IOCC’s long-term work in the region. To support this work with a gift, click here.
Past and Present Programs in the Holy Land
IOCC has worked in the Holy Land since 1997, collaborating with the local Orthodox Church and other partners, as well as with hospitals, schools, and community groups, to address various needs through emergency assistance, agriculture aid, economic and educational opportunity, psychosocial support, and other humanitarian programs.
Emergency Response
Reaching people displaced by the conflict that began in October 2023, IOCC has provided essential items in Gaza such as water, nonperishable food, hot meals, fresh meat, baby formula, and hygiene items. Through the years, IOCC has mobilized quickly to meet similar urgent needs amid conflict. Since 2009, IOCC has provided water, hot meals, food items, hygiene kits, and other nonfood items to over 30,000 families.
Education and Opportunity
IOCC has opened three vocational centers where hundreds of young adults train for in-demand sectors like technology, mobile phone repair, solar power, and more. The program placed hundreds of 18- to 26-year- old high-school and university graduates with community organizations. IOCC has managed multiple livelihoods projects that improved community infrastructure, reaching over 60,000 people.
In the West Bank, IOCC has focused on empowering youth—especially young women—supporting them through grants and business training. These programs help young people start their own ventures and create jobs in various sectors such as agriculture and food production, catering, textiles, and media.
Food Security and Agriculture
Through IOCC, more than 2,500 households in the West Bank and Gaza have received agricultural supplies and training for home gardens or greenhouses, livestock care or beekeeping. Hundreds of women have participated in IOCC’s agricultural activities, trained in farming and marketing, and received specialized equipment like solar-powered herb dryers, helping them grow food for their families and for income at market.
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
Water is crucial for both basic good health and successful farming, especially in an arid climate. IOCC has furnished water catchments that collect rainwater, as well as tanks for drinking water, providing infrastructure that serves farmers and their neighbors.
Children's Health and Nutrition
Through a wide network of community-based organizations, IOCC has trained kindergarten teachers and staff to recognize the signs of trauma and malnutrition in young children and make referrals for treatment. IOCC has reached thousands of Gazan children with psychosocial support to help mitigate the impacts of conflict.
