Major UK charities have raised millions so far in response to the conflict in the Middle East but restrictions on aid access to Gaza are preventing a national joint appeal from being launched.
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which ran an appeal for Gaza in 2014, said “very limited access for humanitarian aid to get into Gaza” was preventing it from launching a fundraising campaign in response to the conflict.
DEC member charities including Oxfam, Save the Children and Islamic Relief have reported raising millions from the general public since October last year but many have been “unable to provide swift and effective humanitarian assistance at a scale needed for a national appeal”.
In 2014, DEC raised £19m for its Gaza Crisis Appeal, which included £2m in aid match funding from the UK government but the difficulties its members have faced delivering aid in the past four months have stopped it from launching a similar appeal this time around.
Nevertheless, DEC says it is “closely monitoring the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and assessing it against our criteria for launching a DEC appeal”.
Charities raise millions
Oxfam told Civil Society it has raised more than £2m so far for its Gaza Crisis Appeal.
“If there is a ceasefire – with full, unhindered humanitarian access allowed – we would continue to appeal to the public for donations to significantly scale up our response,” a spokesperson for the charity said.
Islamic Relief said it was reconciling the amount it has raised but “we have had generous donations from the UK public and have already spent £8.5m in Gaza to help people”.
Save the Children said it has raised £2.7m for its Gaza Crisis appeal, while Christian Aid has received £1.6m in donations so far for its Middle East Crisis Appeal.
Tearfund has raised £678,000 since October 2023 through its Middle East Emergency Appeal, it said, while Action Against Hunger said the figure for its Gaza-Israel Crisis Appeal is £150,000 so far.
CARE International UK reported that its Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Appeal total is just over £215,000, while Plan International UK has raised £172,000 from UK donors for its Children’s Emergency Appeal for Gaza so far plus a “few large trust donations”.
CAFOD said it had raised £513,000 for its Israeli-Palestinian Crisis Appeal so far.
British Red Cross, meanwhile, has not shared its Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory Appeal total as the charity said it has a policy of not doing so for any of its fundraising campaigns.
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