aid

On the deadline for compliance to the US Secretary of Defense letter demanding Israel to provide concrete measures to reverse the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza, today, Tuesday, November 12, Oxfam and seven humanitarian organizations have released a scorecard assessing progress against these measures over the past 30 days, concluding that Israel has failed to comply with its ally’s demands – at enormous human cost for Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Between 7,000 to as many as 21,000 people are likely dying each day from hunger in countries impacted by conflict, according to a new Oxfam report published on World Food Day.

Oxfam is responding to the escalating crisis in Lebanon, providing essential support to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been forced to flee as Israeli airstrikes bombard their homes and communities. 

Patients living in poverty in the Global South are being bankrupted by private healthcare corporations backed by multi-million-dollar investments from development finance institutions (DFIs) run by the UK, French, German and other rich country governments. DFIs like the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) invest public funds via the private sector to help foster economic development in the Global South and tackle poverty. However, Oxfam published two investigations on DFI funding into private hospital chains and other for-profit healthcare corporations operating in low- and middle-income countries and found cases of them.   

Today, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD DAC) published its preliminary figures on the amount of development aid for 2022. 

Today, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD DAC) published its preliminary figures on the amount of development aid provided in 2021. 

The European Parliament voted on its EU budget for aid and foreign policy (NDICI). In response to the vote, Evelien van Roemburg, Oxfam EU Head of Office said: "This new financial instrument stands a real chance at combatting poverty and inequality which has leapt during the pandemic."

Of the meagre 34 trucks of food and water given permission to enter the North Gaza Governorate over the last 2.5 months, deliberate delays and systematic obstructions by the Israeli military meant that just twelve managed to distribute aid to starving Palestinian civilians. For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours.  

Ahead of foreign affairs ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday, where discussions will include the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the wider region, Agnès Bertrand-Sanz, Oxfam humanitarian expert, said: 

“The discussions happening today behind closed doors have an impact on real people, people who are facing the unimaginable. Yet, Europe’s response is often lethargic – recently exemplified by their lack of response to Israel’s banning of UNRWA.

To commemorate World Humanitarian Day on 19 August, Oxfam and over 400  humanitarian organizations sent a joint letter to the Member States of the United Nations General Assembly asking the international community to end attacks on civilians, protect all aid workers, and hold perpetrators to account.