Caritas Internationalis kraftsamlar i det världsvida nätverket för att bistå de lokala caritasorganisationerna med resurser och stöd i deras arbete med de tiotusentals människor som drabbats i konflikten mellan Libanon och Israel.

I Libanon arbetar Caritas Libanon för högtryck och man har de senaste dagarna tagit emot omkring 70 000 människor. Överallt där det går att bo, skolor, moskeer,offentliga byggnader och turistanläggningar trängs internflyktingar. I takt med att konflikten fördjupas ökar hjälpbehoven. Caritas delar ut mat,mediciner,mjölk,tvål,babyprodukter. Mobila hälsokliniker söker upp de svagaste: barn,äldre och sjuka. Caritas Migrationscenter i Beirut får ett särskilt stöd för att värna ytterligare en mycket utsatt grupp- migrantfamiljerna.
Caritas Jerusalem har gått in med stöd till tusentals drabbade människor i Gaza.

Läs mer om arbetet i krigets Libanon nedan:   

Caritas Lebanon’s Overwhelming Task of Caring for Civilians

Vatican City, 20 July 2006 – Caritas Lebanon says it is providing aid and every possible kind of assistance to more than 25,000 people throughout the country, which has been coming under wholesale and indiscriminate attack from Israel, even in remote areas thought of as safe from the military onslaught.

An unknown number of others are being helped by field offices in the south, working in isolation since transport and communications have been almost totally cut off by air attacks and land and sea blockades.

“Practically every one of the Lebanese regions is being bombarded,” Caritas said in a press statement. “Even the regions that were considered sheltered from aggression have become targets.”

Caritas Lebanon says that the Israeli offensive is weighing heavily on civilian life, as even milk factories come under fire and basic infrastructure is destroyed.

“The Israeli Army is making the situation even worse for Lebanese civilians by targeting warehouses and factories,” said Caritas. “In fact, food storage houses in particular have become the target of Israeli reprisals. A big milk factory in the Bekaa region called “Liban Lait” was completely burned and destroyed by direct attacks from the Israeli Air Force. A food storehouse called “TransMed” in Choueifate, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, was totally destroyed.”

More than 500,000 people have been displaced by Israel’s offensive, which began eight days ago. Schools, convents, and public buildings are inundated by people seeking refuge, while many other people are being taken in by friends or family, and even strangers, Caritas said.

Caritas Lebanon has mobilized a fleet of mobile health clinics around the country, which are visiting schools and other shelters, bringing aid to the most vulnerable: children, the old and the sick. They are also educating people about how to look after their health during this period of crisis.

Caritas in Beirut and its various field offices through Lebanon are providing emergency food and supplies such as soap, medicine, milk and baby products. A major concern is that prices are increasing and such supplies could soon become unavailable on the market.

Caritas, with trucks supplied by the Lebanese Army, is funneling aid to particularly hard-hit areas such as Tyre and Marjeyoun.

More than 300 people have been killed since violence erupted last week, only a few dozen of those combatants.

Israel unleashed its attack in retaliation for a military operation carried out by the militia group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which killed eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two others. Hezbollah also launched and continues to carry out rocket attacks on towns in northern Israel.

The Caritas Confederation has called for a ceasefire and urges both sides to take all necessary measures to avoid harming the civilian population caught in the middle of the conflict. Caritas also calls for safe access for humanitarian agencies to carry out their work.

Caritas has opened an appeal for more than $US 1,400,000 to fund its relief effort, as well as an additional $US 175,000 to help the Caritas Migrants Center, which assists the especially vulnerable foreign workers and refugees in the country. In some cases, the Migrants Center is helping with repatriating migrants through Syria, in coordination with Caritas Sri Lanka, for example.

Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development, and social service organisations present in over 200 countries and territories.

For more information, contact: 

Nancy McNally, media officer

Tel: +39 06 69879752

mcnally@caritas.va

www.caritas.org

 Direct actions taken by Caritas Jerusalem on behalf of the people in Gaza

Caritas Jerusalem has distributed 23 first aid kits to qualified doctors according to a plan conducted in partnership with the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Additional requests have been received for ten (10) more of these kits. A report on this project will be shared shortly.

 Caritas Jerusalem is currently undertaking a food coupon distribution plan for 750 very poor families through our Caritas Jerusalem Gaza Medical Center and in conjunction with the Middle East Council of Churches and Fr. Manuel Musallam, the Parish priest in Gaza. Upon completion, we will provide a detailed report of this distribution.

Caritas Jerusalem is presently supporting the project to be undertaken in coordination with the heads of churches in Jerusalem to bring 3,000 food parcels by a convoy of religious leaders to Gaza. We hope to undertake this convoy next week provided that the church leaders can secure permits to enter Gaza.

Additional contributions have arrived for the Caritas Jerusalem Special Operations Appeal (SOA) and we are currently programming those funds for targeted projects which are currently in the greatest need in Gaza.

Many private donors have also contributed smaller sums to the SOA. We wish to thank all those who have given donations. These include individuals, people collecting donations through churches and parishes, through non-profit organizations and through private businesses with some expressions of up to $100 (USD) and with individual donations as much as $5,000 (USD).

Caritas Jerusalem is also working to reprioritize the budget that was submitted in the SOA project to better reflect the current situation that has developed here in the country since June 28, 2006 as the SOA request was submitted on May 19, 2006. The situation since that time has rapidly deteriorated and priorities that were presented in the SOA released in May 2006 do not necessarily reflect the urgent emergency needs facing Gaza in particular and secondarily the West Bank.  

Caritas Jerusalem demands that all parties reject violence and make every effort to restore some sense of calm and orderliness. Killing, aggression, hostage taking and efforts to harm a civilian population are wrong and must be condemned in the strongest terms with a view to end them immediately. The people in Gaza and the West Bank do not need nor do they want any more food aid and handouts. They want justice and peace.

 Please contact your religious leaders and or elected representatives and demand from them to act to ensure that the situation in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon not be allowed to spiral out of control and descend into a deeper abyss of despair, hopelessness and violence than already exists. The region of Gaza particularly needs to see an end to violence. Join us in prayer for all the people of this region.

Contact: Caritas Jerusalem - Communications Officer

Phone: 972 2 628 7574

Fax: 972 2 628 8421

Email: communication@caritasjr.org