The briefing featured Badawi and Andrew Whitley, Director of the Representative Office of UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) in New York, and filled the Rayburn Building's briefing room with over 100 attendants that included Representative Brian Baird (D-WA), legislative aids, policy experts and the leaders of multiple non-profits and community-based groups.
"The population of Gaza is in dire need of basic necessities including water, food and medical supplies," Kucinich stated in a Congressional communiqué. "Hospitals remain at or close to full capacity while the World Health Organization has reported that 34 health facilities were damaged or destroyed by the shelling."
"Roughly 75 percent of the people who live in Gaza today are refugees. They're refugees from successive wars between Israel and the Arab states. They're refugees 80 percent of whom do not have access to electricity, many of them do not have access to water, more than 70,000 of whom do not have access to housing. And I would propose to everyone in this room that the first question in our minds when dealing with a humanitarian crisis of this order, of this magnitude, is not whether or not these people are terrorists, but how we can help them."Rep. Kucinich continued: "Furthermore, twenty-three days of fighting has caused extensive damage in the Gaza Strip destroying an estimated 2,400 homes, 28 public civilian facilities, 21 private projects, 30 mosques (another 15 have been partially destroyed), the offices of 10 charitable societies, 121 industrial and commercial workshops (at least 200 others were damaged), 5 concrete factories, one juice factory and 60 police stations."
—UPA Director Samer Badawi
While the exact number of people displaced by the conflict is still unknown, UNRWA continues to shelter approximately 18,000 people, down from a high of more than 51,000.
Addressing the audience, Badawi said: "Roughly 75 percent of the people who live in Gaza today are refugees. They're refugees from successive wars between Israel and the Arab states. They're refugees 80 percent of whom do not have access to electricity, many of them do not have access to water, more than 70,000 of whom do not have access to housing. And I would propose to everyone in this room that the first question in our minds when dealing with a humanitarian crisis of this order, of this magnitude, is not whether or not these people are terrorists, but how we can help them."
Following the joint briefing, Rep. Kucinich moderated a question and answer period that addressed matters that included measures to mitigate the psychological trauma of Palestinians in Gaza, and the future role of the international community in rebuilding the region.
