As the Israel-Hamas war escalates and Israel prepares for a ground offensive into Gaza, Jewish, Muslim and Arab American organizations in Southern California are raising funds for humanitarian aid.
SoCal Humanitarian Aid Efforts For Israel and Palestine Grow As War Intensifies
Local religious institutions and nonprofits have been calling for donations to help Israelis and Palestinians displaced and injured by the violence that began Oct. 7 when Hamas launched a deadly coordinated surprise attack on Israel. Gaza has been under siege since, with food, water and medical supplies running desperately low as Israeli airstrikes continue.
What Southern California groups are doing
As this happens, local groups in Southern California have sought resources for humanitarian aid.
“We really are in triage right now, right?” said Rabbi Joel Simonds of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, which has been raising funds for ambulances for Israel’s emergency medical system.
What we know so far
Death toll and casualties
- Israeli officials report an attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people. In addition, they say about 250 people were taken hostage, some have since been released.
- Gaza health officials have reported more than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.
— NPR (Jan. 24)
“Communities need medical supplies,” Simonds said. “Doctors who have been sent to the front lines — do they need more doctors? Do they need more ambulances? So we are raising triage funds right now.”
Wilshire and other temples have posted lists of humanitarian aid NGOs that people can donate to; the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has also been raising money for a crisis relief fund.
Other organizations have been responding to dire conditions in Gaza as the war escalates, among them Muslim and Arab American groups.
People in Gaza have “lost everything,” said Rima Nashashibi, an Orange County-based advisory board member of American Near East Refugee Aid, known as ANERA.
“You need the basic necessities: food, shelter, clothing, medicine, water, clean water,” said Nashashibi, who is Palestinian American and was born in Jerusalem.
Getting aid into Gaza is difficult
A major complication early on for relief efforts to Gaza was the closure of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. That sole entry point for supplies closed following airstrikes. Nashashibi was relieved to receive word that the crossing is set to reopen soon for humanitarian aid. [Note: That reopening happened the weekend of Oct. 21st, although aid groups cautioned the initial supplies sent were a drop in the bucket.)
“Hopefully with the opening of the Rafah crossing, things will become better,” she said, adding, “but what we need most, as most of us are…calling our elected officials to get done, is a ceasefire… We need an immediate ceasefire in order to get to the people who were killed and injured at this time, because the hospitals in Gaza cannot handle the amount of the people who were killed or injured.”
Some members of Congress have also called for a ceasefire, as President Joe Biden visited Israel this week — but this seems unlikely for now.
These groups are providing aid
Humanitarian aid to Israel and Gaza:
A brief history
Understanding how we got here
The history of this region is both complicated and fraught. Here is some context about what led up to the most recent attacks and counterattacks.
NPR's Aya Batrawy and Daniel Estrin called the initial attack "one of the most dramatic escalations in violence in recent memory" adding there are "concerns the chaos could spread to the occupied West Bank and different countries in the Middle East."
- This round of bloodshed began with a surprise attack by Palestinian fighters from Gaza into Israel during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. On Oct. 7, militants infiltrated Israel's border using paragliders, motorbikes and boats and fired thousands of rockets toward the country from Gaza.
NPR's Fatima Al-Kassab reported on the history of the Gaza Strip. Some key excerpts:
- The Gaza Strip is a 25-mile-long by 6-mile-wide enclave, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the south.
- Gaza is one of two Palestinian territories. The other is the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
- The strip has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt, restricting the movement of people and goods since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. Israel controls its airspace and shoreline, as well as what goods can cross Gaza's borders.
NPR's Fatma Tanis examined how we got here and what might come next in this longstanding conflict.
For anyone looking for guidance on how to talk to children about this war:
Here's the latest on a growing movement on college campuses nationwide, as students organize against Israel's war in Gaza.
