We start unfortunately with what we must start with, the catastrophic situation in the Middle East. This is the statement that has been published on our website, which is what we stand by.
Violence and hostilities in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Israel is escalating. Many thousands people have already lost their lives and sadly this number is likely to increase. Many more thousands have already been displaced with still thousands more injured and missing.
Hope and Aid Direct “takes aid, not sides”!
This is more than just our motto, it’s the humanitarian ‘absolute’ that we have operated by since our inception. We all know that there are two sides to every story (at least), and we all know that sometimes it’s nearly impossible to remain impartial, but there can be no legality or acceptability for murder of innocent civilians by any person or country.
We stand shoulder to shoulder with all innocent civilians.
We stand against all war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide committed by any side.
We call-out all war criminals, and support the call for all war criminals on all sides to be prosecuted and brought to justice.
As a charity we do not work in this part of the world, but we cannot just sit and watch as the terrifying escalation of violence is leaving people in urgent need of humanitarian support and medical aid. People have lost friends, family, homes and income; everything including hope! Whilst we do not take sides, which is critical in this very complicated and political conflict, we always ensure that our aid and efforts are directed towards those most in need.
There are charities and individuals with whom we have worked in the past, in both the Greek Islands and Ukraine who are present on the ground and who have already lost colleagues in this war. We are currently assessing what we can do within the confines of these partnerships, to provide much needed aid once humanitarian corridors are open. In addition to these partnerships, we have been in contact with a number of international organisations working in the region with regards to bulk aid that we have access to, to see if this can be supplied to them.
Because of the complexity of the situation we have not, as yet, set up any fundraiser. If we conclude that we could use any money raised effectively then we will start a fundraiser urgently. If you particularly wish to donate through Hope and Aid Direct to support victims of this war then please donate using our donate button, and note in your donation that it is to be used for this purpose; we will ensure it gets to the right place via a partner organisation.
Any further updates will be made on the website.
As it mentions above we are contact with a number of agencies and we will hopefully do something as and when we can. As you will have seen on the news, the situation is incredibly complex and very little aid is getting into Gaza.
They often say "The first casualty of war is the truth", we therefore urge you all to ensure you are seeing this conflict from all sides and using the media available to you to inform you as best you can of the facts on the ground. There is a tendency that many of us have to get our news from one source, so we urge you to expand this to take in BBC, Sky, France24, Aljazeera and other sources to ensure a balanced view of the conflict.
