Press release
Ireland provides emergency shelter supplies for Gaza
From Department of Foreign Affairs
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Foreign Affairs
Published on
Last updated on
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, has today announced 50 tonnes of relief supplies for the people of Gaza under Ireland’s Rapid Response Initiative.
The emergency supplies are worth €250,000 and consist of 500 family tents and 3,000 tarpaulins. They will be distributed to 1,500 families within Gaza, in partnership with Trócaire and the Catholic Relief Services. The airlift left the UN's Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Dubai this afternoon, 15th December, and arrived in Al Arish airport in Egypt. The items will be brought into Gaza for distribution by the Catholic Relief Services as soon as access allows.
Announcing the airlift, the Tánaiste said:
"This vital aid will be provided to Palestinians who have lost their homes and been displaced by the ongoing Israeli bombardment. Nearly 85 per cent of the population of Gaza are estimated to be internally displaced, with UN shelters in the central area and south sheltering nine times their intended capacity.
"The people of Gaza are enduring dire conditions. It is unacceptable that humanitarian relief is being kept from those who desperately need it. The situation is beyond comprehension and it simply cannot continue. There must be an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”
Minister of State for International Development and the Diaspora, Seán Fleming, added:
"This airlift is part of Ireland’s humanitarian response to the ongoing crisis in Gaza. It signals our ongoing commitment to help the people of Gaza, who desperately need food, water, shelter, fuel and medical supplies.
"It is in addition to €18 million provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and €4.45 million to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) Occupied Palestinian Territories Humanitarian Fund in 2023.”
Ireland is providing shelter items as part of a coordinated approach with the European Union. The flight includes shelter items from Ireland, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Organisation for Migration, as well as medical supplies from the International Medical Corps and the International Rescue Committee. The flight is sponsored and coordinated by the EU’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Operations department (ECHO).
Ireland has provided €36 million to Palestine in 2023. This includes funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Irish NGOs in the region.
Ireland has also provided globally prepositioned funds in 2023 to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) which reacts rapidly and at scale when disasters happen. CERF has already allocated $15 million to the Gaza Strip. Ireland is the tenth largest contributor to the CERF, providing €12.5 million so far this year.
Under the Rapid Response Initiative, Ireland pre-positions emergency and humanitarian relief items around the world. We stockpile in UN Humanitarian Response Depots (UNHRD) which are strategically located near disaster and crisis prone areas. Ireland’s stocks are located in Dubai (UAE) and Brindisi (Italy). UNHRD not only procures and stores Ireland’s stocks but also arranges for their packaging and transport to the crisis affected country. Stockpiling relief items allows Ireland to obtain lower prices through economies of scale, with prices agreed and purchases finalised before a crisis strikes. It also facilitates faster delivery of stocks into crises, and shared and lower transport costs.
ECHO is the European Commission's Department for Overseas Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, formerly known as the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO). It provides needs-based humanitarian assistance to communities hit by man-made and natural disasters in over 110 countries. Under the European Humanitarian Response Capacity (EHRC), ECHO supports the transport of EU member state and humanitarian organisations’ stocks to respond to humanitarian crises. The EHRC is an EU initiative designed to fill gaps in the humanitarian response to sudden-onset natural hazards and human-induced disasters.