Israel has been killing, injuring, and displacing people in Gaza almost continuously since October 2023. It cut off electricity, food, water, and other basic necessities. Homes, schools, mosques, clinics and hospitals are destroyed. Children, journalists, and medical workers
have been killed and gravely injured.

Every day, the Middle East Children’s Alliance remarkable and courageous team on the ground —staff, volunteers, and our partner organizations—are responding to the urgent needs of children and families under attack.

MECA’s work in Gaza shifted and expanded significantly during the brief ceasefire in January and February 2025, when Israel allowed significantly more aid, particularly desperately needed food, to enter Gaza and our staff and partners were able to operate without the danger and restrictions of regular bombings, checkpoints, and displacement. You can find a summary of those efforts on this page.

On March 2, Israel stopped all aid from entering Gaza and on March 18, Israel unilaterally broke the ceasefire with multiple airstrikes that continue daily, along with a brutal blockade of food, water, medicine, electricity, and other necessities. Despite this deprivation, MECA’s team in Gaza continues to find ways to meet the needs of as many people as possible.

Food & Hygiene kits

MECA's team and partners in Gaza are procuring food and hygiene supplies from stores, warehouses, factories, and farmers and delivering them to displaced families. MECA’s network of grassroots community organizations throughout Gaza is able to reach displaced families who are with friends, relatives, neighbors, and in informal shelters like community centers and cafes.

To date we have delivered:
- 282,914 food parcels with essential food staples and fresh produce. Each parcel can feed a family in Gaza for two to three weeks.
- 35,160 hygiene kits with soap, shampoo, wet wipes, toilet paper, diapers (as needed), and women's san5itary supplies
- 655,296 meals provided through Ready to Eat kits donated by our partner World Central Kitchen

Hot Meals

In partnership with the World Central Kitchen, MECA is setting up and running community kitchens in Gaza to provide hot meals to displaced families. We have four kitchens that provide more than 20,000 hot meals to families each and every day. The hot meals are a source of sustenance and comfort during this difficult time.

Safe, clean drinking water

MECA and our partners have:
- distributed 3,753,356 gallons of clean drinking water to displaced families from solar powered water purification units or water bottles
- provided millions more gallons of clean water provided to families sheltering at UN schools where we have installed water purification units
- installed or upgraded 13 water purification units powered by solar energy in Mawasi, Khan Younis, Deir El-Balah and Gaza City that provide 30,000 gallons of water daily for displaced families.

Special support for children

"When we play during the session we forget the terrifying scenes, we want to play and enjoy our lives." - one of the children participating in psychosocial sessions in a shelter

In this emergency situation with the bombs still falling, we are unable to organize long-term mental health programs. But six of our local partners are providing psychosocial support to displaced children in shelters through group games and activities with a special emphasis on children with disabilities. Their trained staff are working in informal shelters and camps.

MECA partners have also distributed 4,000 toys and coloring books to children in Gaza, including for injured children being treated at one of our partner hospitals, and sets of clothing for 25,000 children.

Additional Aid for Gaza: Medicine, Nutrition, and more

MECA is supporting a clinic that provides free services to families in Mawasi, Khan Younis and four clinics that treat malnutrition in children under five in southern Gaza.

At the start of the attack, MECA provided funds to three hospitals in Gaza to purchase emergency supplies of fuel for their generators to ensure they can continue treating patients for an additional month after electricity was cut.

We've also provided a grant to one hospital to purchase additional medicine and medical supplies needed for the huge influx of injured patients.

In an effort to prevent the spread of disease, we've initiated garbage collection projects with two of our partners. Using donkey carts, we collect garbage to take to the dump and also organize regular volunteer clean-up efforts.