Palestinian Authority pledges more backing for NGOs in Gaza

GAZA (AFP): The Palestinian Authority on Monday pledged to give greater backing to NGOs in Gaza as it warned that 300,000 families in the beleaguered territory are “marginalised” and need assistance.

The authority held a meeting with about 15 NGOs and aid groups who have complained about increasing problems getting aid into the Gaza Strip and distributing food and other essentials around the territory where Israel has been fighting Hamas for more than eight months.

While the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the occupied West Bank, has virtually no influence in Hamas-ruled Gaza, the authority’s emergency relief minister Basil al-Kafarna acknowledged the mounting dangers and said: “We are here to support the non-governmental organisations and the agencies for humanitarian relief in the Gaza Strip.”

He emphasised a number of cooperation projects including two online platforms that monitor the districts and families among Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabits most in need and allow NGOs to highlight problems.

Social development minister Samah Hamad said the authority would be able to provide family records from its social register. “Before (the war) we had about 120,000 families benefitting from cash transfers from the social protection scheme.”

Hamad added that the PA believed 300,000 families in Gaza were now “marginalised and going through hardship.”

Tens of thousands of Palestinian Authority workers still live in Gaza but the territory has been under Hamas control since 2007 when the militant group won weeks of battles with Fatah, the party of PA president Mahmud Abbas.