65 water filters and 8 tons of food were sent to Ethiopian refugees
23 de fevereiro de 2024
Janja Lula da Silva delivers donation from Brazilian government to Ethiopian refugees – Cláudio Kbene/Divulgação
From the newsroom – Translated by: Ana Paula Rocha
On Saturday (17), the federal government, through its Brazilian Agency of Cooperation, made donations to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Ethiopia, the country President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited on the weekend.
It was 65 portable water filters, each with the capacity to purify 5,600 liters of water per day; 10 tons of dehydrated nutritious food; 4 tons of rice and 4 tons of powdered milk produced and donated by the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST, in Portuguese).
The donations were articulated by Brazil’s first lady Janja Lula da Silva (@JanjaLula). The donations will go to refugee camps in the Gambela region, Ethiopia, which supports 385,000 refugees.
A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has already identified 18 hunger “hotspots” where food security is expected to deteriorate, including Ethiopia itself, Sudan and South Sudan.
Aiming to combat the problem, during Brazil’s presidency of the G20, a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty will be created, to be organized throughout 2024 and launched at the Summit of Heads of State and Government in Rio de Janeiro in November this year.
Janja Lula da Silva is part of the committee traveling with President Lula on his visit to Ethiopia. Brazil also took part as a guest of honor at the 37th African Union Summit, in Adis Abeba, where President Lula gave the opening speech.
Displaced Palestinians crowd to fill their pots with food as the food crisis in Gaza spreads. (Photo: Yosef Abo Said, via Eye on Palestine)
By Abdallah Aljamal – Gaza
Gaza is experiencing the world’s worst current hunger crisis, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
This is “an entirely man-made catastrophe resulting from Israel’s ongoing attacks and siege of the territory that is starving civilians,” OCHA said in a report on January 9.
On October 9, only two days into the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced what he called a “complete siege” on the already besieged Strip.
“There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant said, adding: “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly”.
Even when some humanitarian convoy was allowed to enter Gaza, the number of trucks decreased dramatically, compared to the pre-war months.
This decrease is taking place even at a time when devastated Gaza is in greater need of life-saving medicine, food, even water, among other critical supplies.
The situation is particularly dire in the northern region and in Gaza City, where Israel continues to prevent all access to life-saving supplies, water, medicine, and fuel.
Two residents of Gaza City spoke to The Palestine Chronicle about their desperation in the face of widespread starvation.
Death Surrounds Us
“Since the beginning of the (Israeli military) ground operation, over 100 days ago, we have been experiencing real famine. Every day our suffering increases,” Ayman al-Hattu told The Palestine Chronicle.
“The danger of death from hunger and thirst is spreading everywhere. We cannot provide food and water for our people and for the children, and this makes us feel helpless,” he said.
“Death surrounds us, and the cries of our children hungry and thirsty are heard all the time.”
Al-Hattu explained that there is no flour in Gaza City and, if available, its price has increased to about 30 times.
“We do not have the money to buy it, and there are no banks, salaries, or work. The war destroyed everything,” he told us.
“Life has completely stopped. Diseases and epidemics are spreading everywhere.”
‘My Son Dreams of Eating Bread’
When the war started, we left our homes and headed to an UNRWA school, but there is no water or food, and diseases are spreading everywhere,” another resident, Samar al-Saeedi, said.
Al-Saeedi explained that the health situation in Gaza City is worsening by the day and that there is no treatment or medication to curb the spread of diseases, which are mainly caused by the scarcity of water.
“My little son dreams of eating bread. All our children dream of eating bread and drinking water, and the inability to meet their needs is painful,” he told us.
“The world watches us and does not do anything, while we are surrounded by death from bombing, hunger, and thirst.”
Al-Saeedi had a final appeal:
“Stop this war, stop the occupation’s crimes, save our children, save the people of Gaza from the genocide war, help us with food and security, restore life to Gaza, bring back smiles to the children of Gaza.”
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 29,606 Palestinians have been killed, and 69,737 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7.
Observ@tório de Relações Internacionais - UFOP 