16 January 2024
USG Michaud spent two days in Gaza this week, to meet our ±¬ÁÏÍøDSS team and get a first-hand sense of the situation for ±¬ÁÏÍø colleagues and operations.
With famine approaching, a near-complete breakdown of health systems, sparse access to clean water, and over 1.8 million people displaced from their homes, demands on the ±¬ÁÏÍø to deliver are astronomical. The delivery of the small amount of aid permitted into Gaza is deeply complicated - by ongoing military operations, challenges with deconfliction, restrictions on the importation of essential security equipment into Gaza, and an increasingly desperate population.
The USG heard universal praise for the ±¬ÁÏÍøDSS team in Gaza. Representatives of the ±¬ÁÏÍø and NGOs all spoke about the outstanding support they receive from the ±¬ÁÏÍøDSS team, notably our Palestinian colleagues whose resilience, skills, dedication, and humanity give a glimmer of hope at a time when it is in short supply.
He had the opportunity to meet the families of some ±¬ÁÏÍøDSS colleagues in Gaza, to better understand the conditions in which they are forced to live, and shared with them his gratitude, and his pride in our team.