Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Türkiye have been working for 683 days to ease Gaza’s food crisis, triggered by Israel’s attacks since October 7, 2023.
They have regularly sent food, clothing, medicine, medical equipment and other essentials, with efforts focused on tackling the worsening food shortage.
The Turkish Red Crescent
The Turkish Red Crescent spearheaded five "Kindness Ship" missions, sending 10 ships with 869 truckloads (15,089 tonnes) of aid, mainly food, hygiene products and medical supplies.
It delivered 52,164 cans of meat from Eid Al Adha donations via the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and UNRWA in January, while another 261 tonnes of canned meat from Türkiye’s 15th aid ship await entry.
Its soup kitchens in Gaza serve up to 21,000 meals daily, with 6.83 million meals distributed to date.
It has also delivered 400 tonnes of locally procured supplies, and since November 2024 has distributed 1.66 million litres of drinking water, with deliveries to resume once conditions allow.
As of November 29, 2024, it began distributing drinking water in Gaza via tankers, providing 20 litres per family and a total of 20 tonnes of water per day.
Having delivered 1.66 million litres of drinking water to the people in the region, the Turkish Red Crescent will resume distribution once conditions allow.
From 5,000 food parcels procured through Jordan, 2,500 were distributed in February, with the rest pending. Despite restrictions, 165 of 405 aid trucks offloaded at the Egyptian Red Crescent’s warehouse had entered Gaza by August 3, with sorting of the remainder ongoing.
Deniz Feneri
The Deniz Feneri Association provides hot meals to 15,000 people daily through 10 soup kitchens established in northern, southern and central Gaza. These meals are distributed to camps and families in need through volunteers and local staff.
Addressing one of Gaza’s most critical issues — access to water following the destruction of infrastructure — the association also supplies 15 tonnes of clean drinking water daily and keeps two active wells in operation.
In addition, it provides food aid to Al Wafa Hospital in Gaza, consisting of three meals a day for patients and their caregivers.
IHH
Since the beginning of the attacks, the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation has distributed 35.19 million hot meals in the region. The foundation has also delivered 127.63 million loaves of bread and 1.2 million assorted food items, including canned goods, pasta, ready-to-eat meal packages and fruit juice.
The foundation has distributed 206,521 food parcels, 129,789 sacks of flour and 17,848 packages of vegetables to the people of Gaza. It has also provided 2,567 tankers of drinking water and meat parcels.
Cansuyu Association
Since the beginning of the attacks, the Cansuyu Association has sent 102 trucks of aid carrying food parcels, flour, rice, oil, legumes, pasta and other essentials.
It has delivered 3,000 food parcels, 285,000 bread packages, 750 vegetable parcels, 500 cooking gas cylinders, 349,300 hot meals and 1,806 tankers of drinking water.
Through its partner organisation, the association provided five tankers of clean water and hot meals for 500 people in northern Gaza, and continues to serve meals in the south.
To date, it has delivered 1,273 tonnes of food supplies from outside Gaza, with 20 trucks of emergency aid awaiting entry at the border.
IDDEF
The Istanbul-based Federation of Humanitarian Associations (IDDEF) has delivered 4 million hot meals, 200,000 food, fruit-vegetable and hygiene parcels, 350,000 packages of bread and 320 tonnes of flour.
From its warehouses in Egypt and Jordan, it has dispatched 204 trucks of aid to the region and contributed eight trucks of relief supplies to three AFAD-organised aid ships.
It also sent 300,000 portions of canned meat to Gaza, with a further 264,600 800-gramme cans kept ready in Jordan for shipment.
IDDEF is currently distributing 3,000 hot meals and 50,000 loaves of bread daily in Gaza, along with 25,000 litres of clean water per day through two tankers supplied by operating water treatment facilities in the region.
Doctors Worldwide
Since October 7, Doctors Worldwide has provided health care, food and hygiene support to more than 43,000 families and more than 900,000 people in Gaza.
Teams providing treatment at Al Shifa, Al Aqsa and Al Ahli hospitals are also providing vaccinations and formula to children and pregnant women at a health station established at a camp in the north in collaboration with UNICEF.
The association also provided salary support to more than 280 health care workers and delivered medical supplies, food, hygiene aid and canned meat to 155,000 people through Egypt and Jordan.
Sadakatasi Association
The Sadakatasi Association has provided health care, food, shelter and emergency aid to about 2 million people in Gaza.
It has supplied six ambulances and tens of thousands of boxes of medicine to hospitals, while sheltering 1,000 families in two tent cities and 400 students in two tent schools.
Across Gaza, it has distributed food parcels to 22,000 families, flour to 4,000 families, bread to 110,000 families, 475 tankers of water and two truckloads of drinking water.
It has also provided hot meals to 1.2 million people, supported hospitals with seven tonnes of fuel, and continued humanitarian aid including clothing, blankets, tents and meat.
Within the Türkiye-Palestine Humanitarian Aid Operation, 16 aid ships have also been dispatched from Mersin Port to Egypt’s Al Arish Port under AFAD’s coordination since October 7, 2023.
