Brasília – The Brazilian government is going to send 14 tonnes of donations of medication and food to the victims of the conflict between Israel and the Islamic group Hamas in the Gaza Strip next Friday (09). According to information supplied by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Trade, the cargo will be shipped to Jordan first, from where it should be transported to Gaza with the help of the Jordanian Charity Organization.
According to the Brazilian foreign office (Itamaraty), medications include antibiotics, rehydration salts, syringes, bandages and other first-aid items.
Still today (06), the chancellor Celso Amorim should meet in Portugal with the Portuguese prime minister, José Sócrates, and also hold talks with the chancellor of Syria, Walid al-Moualem, to discuss the measures that can the international community can adopt in order to be able to negotiate a ceasefire in the region.
Yesterday (05) he had already spoken, on the telephone, with the Israeli chancellor, Tzipi Livni, about the Brazilian proposal of holding a meeting with several countries so as to seek a solution for the conflict that started ten days ago with Israeli attacks on the Palestinians.
China has also announced a donation of US$ 1 million for humanitarian aid to the region.
According to Portuguese news agency Lusa, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that the crisis in Gaza is unbearable to the population, which, even prior to the Israeli military operation, lived under "extremely harsh conditions" after 18 months of bans and restrictions on imports.
After 11 days of bombings, Palestinian casualties are estimated to range from 580 to 600, and 3,000 are there already are wounded 3,000 wounded, according to figures supplied by hospital sources. The population of Gaza is 1.5 million.
“We are extremely worried about the growing number of dead civilians and the growing number of civil infrastructures, such as hospitals, that have been affected by Israeli military operations,” said the director of Operations at the ICRC, Pierre Kraehenbuehl.
According to him, one of the priorities is to ensure medical assistance to the wounded, because many victims die while they wait for an ambulance to arrive. Even though access to the territory has been made easier, rescue vehicles are unable to reach the victims due to the intensity of combat.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
