Jerusalem/West Bank/Gaza

In 2019, a medical supply shortage in Gaza caused a record number of people to apply to pass through Erez—the primary crossing point into Israel—for healthcare. Half of these applicants were under 18 or over 60, and only 58% were approved. People who live in the fragile contexts of the Jerusalem/West Bank/Gaza area were made even more vulnerable by the effects of the pandemic, with economic and school closures. The healthcare infrastructure of these areas isn’t strong, and ongoing conflict means people struggle to make a living and feed their families even when there’s no pandemic to exacerbate tough conditions. A general lack of systems like kindergartens and child protection procedures in schools means kids are too often left without the resources they need to grow and thrive. With strong partnerships, in the first half of 2020 over 106,000 children and 600 institutions like churches were supported with pandemic-related resources and supplies. We helped open new kindergartens, train teachers in early childhood development, and boost schools’ infrastructure. New projects helped create school safety plans and elevate schools’ abilities to protect children from violence. Thanks to work with the government to strengthen social workers’ jobs, over 1.4 million vulnerable children could benefit from child protection follow-ups during the pandemic.