Gaza and Lebanon: ”The situation can hardly be put into words.“
The escalation of violence in the Holy Land since October 2023 has caused great suffering among the people. Under the most difficult conditions, Malteser International was able to work with local partner organizations in 2024 to bring aid to the people in Lebanon and Gaza.
“The situation of the population in Gaza can hardly be put into words. There are almost no buildings left intact. What the people there have had to endure since October 2023 is shocking and absolutely tragic,” says H. E. Fra’ Alessandro de Franciscis, then Grand Hospitaller of the Sovereign Order of Malta, after his visit to the “Holy Family” parish in Gaza City. In May 2024, the former Grand Hospitaller and H. B. Pierbattista Cardinal Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, visited the besieged city. Together with Emergency Relief experts from MaIteser International, they brought an urgently needed first delivery of food kits to the people in Gaza.
After this, a team from Malteser International expanded this aid together with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem: In 2024, six relief transports with food reached the people in the north of Gaza while at the same time planning for healthcare services was underway. “The aid deliveries are an enormous achievement that our team has accomplished despite incredible difficulties. We now stand ready to begin our medical aid mission as soon as access to Gaza is possible again,” says Clemens Graf von Mirbach-Harff, Secretary General of Malteser International. The new Grand Hospitaller, H. E. Dr. Josef D. Blotz, who was elected in February 2025, also considers this project to be one of the most important for his future work (see interview).
Lebanon: Aid despite hostilities
In Lebanon, the situation took a catastrophic turn during the Fall of 2024: The escalation of the war between Israel and Hezbollah led to a mass population displacement in September: “Our colleagues from the Order of Malta Lebanon risked their lives to continue providing medical care to people affected by the war in Lebanon,” says Nayla El-Khoury, Malteser International’s Country Representative for Lebanon. Healthcare is a core focus of our work with the Order of Malta Lebanon (OML).
With the support of Malteser International, OML operates seven mobile medical units and eleven health centers. Four additional mobile units specialized in dental care, pediatrics, gynecology, and cardiology will start their work in 2025. After the hostilities increased in September 2024, health centers and their staff were temporarily relocated from embattled regions to more secure parts of the country, where many people had fled. There, they provided medical assistance in emergency shelters: volunteers distributed blankets, hygiene and sanitary products; and the mobile kitchens provided the internally displaced people with hot meals.
Looking ahead
When the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect on November 27th, 2024, the mobile medical units were able to resume their work in the south of Lebanon. Although the situation remains tense, there is great hope for a lasting end to the fighting. The outlook is less optimistic for the people in Gaza, who currently have little hope that their catastrophic humanitarian situation will improve.
What will happen next in the region? Dr. Abdalla Khoury, doctor at the mobile clinic in the Akkar region of Lebanon says: “I have been working at the Malteser International mobile clinic in Akkar since 2014. We make an effort for every patient. We must continue to act with hope.”
“Malteser International’s mobile clinics not only helped me with my healthcare, but also provided me with psychosocial support, which helped me develop and work on myself.”
Fatwa Sleiman, 49, fled from Syria to Lebanon in 2013 and has been a patient at the mobile clinic for eight years.
