AmeriCares to Airlift Medial Relief to the Middle East

AmeriCares Foundation
Thursday, 26 October 2000

AmeriCares, the international and domestic disaster relief organization, announced today that over 100,000 pounds of vital medical supplies will be sent to Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank & Gaza. Relief aid will consist of essential drugs and other medicines, medical supplies, food and nutritional supplements.

60,000 pounds of humanitarian aid to arrive in Beirut on November 1st.

The recent tensions in the Middle East are exacerbated by an already difficult situation in Lebanon where 373,000 Palestinian refugees reside. AmeriCares will be delivering the supplies in an effort to assist with the increased demand currently being placed on an already tenuous healthcare system in Lebanon. AmeriCares has been sending humanitarian supplies to Lebanon since 1982 to assist the country as it rebuilds itself after nearly 20 years of conflict and civil war. AmeriCares' aid will be distributed by the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the Lebanese Red Crescent Society and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

40,000 pounds of humanitarian aid to arrive in Tel Aviv beginning November 10th.

The current political crises in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank strained the nation's infrastructure severely taxing its medical resources. AmeriCares first airlifted supplies to Israel in 1993 in honor of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. These medical supplies were distributed to the needy in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Jerusalem. In 1999, $3.3 million dollars worth of medicines, nutritional products, hygiene items and hospital and surgical supplies were delivered to the Palestinian Authorities in Gaza and the West Bank to support primary healthcare initiatives in those regions. The airlift marked the first humanitarian aid flight into the new Gaza airport and was dedicated by AmeriCares to King Hussein of Jordan. The medical donation was distributed to neighboring Palestinian medical institutions in addition to the Hadassah Medical Organization.

"AmeriCares' concern for the people of this beleaguered region has been ongoing and deeply felt, particularly with the prospect of peace in the air these past months," says Robert Macauley, Founder and Chairman of AmeriCares. "We hope these medical relief missions will help bolster the regions' healthcare system during this difficult and trying period."

For more information, or to contact AmeriCares Foundation, see their website at: www.americares.org