German Red Cross / Deutsches Rotes Kreuz

The German Red Cross (DRK) is actively involved in providing humanitarian assistance in Israel and the Palestinian territories, focusing on the following key activities:

Deployment of Delegates: The DRK has stationed four delegates in the region, with three currently operating in Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Gaza. Their work is conducted under the security management of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). 

Delivery of Humanitarian Aid: In response to the escalating conflict, the DRK has organized multiple shipments of essential supplies to the Gaza Strip. These shipments include family tents, sleeping mats, winter kits, medical supplies, and equipment for emergency health services. The aid is transported via flights to Egypt and then delivered overland to Gaza, in collaboration with the Egyptian Red Crescent and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Support for Medical Facilities: The DRK supports a field hospital established by the ICRC in Rafah, Gaza, providing medical personnel, equipment, and technical assistance. This facility offers services such as outpatient care, emergency surgery, pediatric care, maternity services, and psychosocial support. Additionally, the DRK aids in the distribution of medical supplies to local health centers and supports ambulance services with necessary medications and fuel.

Disaster Preparedness and Health Services: The DRK collaborates with the Palestinian Red Crescent to enhance disaster preparedness and health services in Gaza. This includes storing and providing essential relief items, training volunteers, and implementing preventive health measures to ensure effective crisis response.

Advocacy for International Humanitarian Law: The DRK emphasizes the importance of adhering to International Humanitarian Law, advocating for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure. They call for unimpeded access for humanitarian workers and the continuous supply of essential goods to affected populations.

Through these efforts, the DRK aims to alleviate suffering and provide critical support to those affected by the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Sudan has a long history of conflict. Since the beginning of the new armed conflicht in April 2023, nine million people have fled the country or are seeking safety in neighboring countries such as South Sudan or Ethiopia, which are themselves affected by severe crises. Most of the refugees are women and children. They live in overcrowded reception centers without enough food, clean water or medical assistance.  The German Red Cross (GRC) is working closely with its sister organizations on the ground to help the people in need.

Measures in Sudan

• Cash aid for families
• Procurement and distribution of medicines, medical equipment and hygiene products
• Training volunteers in hygiene skills
• Construction of hand-washing facilities
• Structural strengthening of the SRCS (organization, planning, monitoring)
• Batteries for the temporary SRCS office in Port Sudan

When violence broke out in Darfur in western Sudan 20 years ago, Fariha fled with her children to the capital Khartoum. The family lived there until a year ago - when their world collapsed for a second time in April 2023. Fariha is 52 years old. She remembers a time when her home was peaceful and relatively safe. But the Sudan she knew as a child and young mother no longer exists. The last 20 years have been marked by unrest and violence. When the guns were at rest, Fariha and her compatriots had some hope. But in April 2023, a new conflict broke out - even more violent than many crises before.

When the armed conflicts began in Khartoum, Fariha had to flee with her children. “Supply routes are repeatedly interrupted and transportation is often only possible under life-threatening circumstances. The protection of aid workers is not guaranteed, and the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) lost four volunteers in the first half of 2024 alone. Nevertheless, we are delivering what we can, because the need is great and there is a shortage of everything.” Excessive rainfall has also been announced for the whole of August. There is a threat of water-related epidemics such as cholera - in a country where almost 80 percent of health facilities are no longer functioning.

Help that gives hope
The SRCS, the German Red Cross and other sister societies are working closely together to respond appropriately to the extreme scale of the crisis. Our emergency relief activities in the states of North Darfur and Blue Nile are providing internally displaced people (IDP) with water, sanitation, medicines, in-kind assistance and cash aid to purchase essential goods.

The SRCS and its volunteers play a key role in this: despite their own hardship and dangerous working conditions, over 4,000 volunteers are on duty every day, helping out in health centers or repairing sanitary facilities, for example. “We also support our colleagues from the SRCS organizationally and structurally. The National Society itself has been extremely affected by the crisis: it had to temporarily relocate its office to Port Sudan because its center in the capital Khartoum was destroyed, the warehouses of many branches were looted and the vehicle fleet was stolen,” reports our delegate in the region Marius Schneider.

Fariha remains strong
The courageous efforts of the volunteers give hope. And Fariha has also retained her confidence that her children's future can be a happy one: “My mother was a woman of great strength, a strength that I will pass on to my daughters.”