ITUC Humanitarian Mission Visits Gaza

The ITUC/ITF/PGFTU and trade unionists from Tunisia and Jordan, delivered a first instalment of solidarity funding to the Red Cross/Red Crescent, the main hospital and families suffering from the devastation.

An ITUC humanitarian solidarity mission into Gaza yesterday, organised with the International Transport Workers Federation, the PGFTU and trade unionists from Tunisia and Jordan, delivered a first instalment of solidarity funding to the Red Cross/Red Crescent, the main hospital and families suffering from the devastation there. The visit was the first time in 10 years that PGFTU General Secretary Shaher Sae’d and other PGFTU officials from the West Bank had been able to enter Gaza.

"Amongst the terrible devastation and senseless loss of life, there is determination and hope. The international trade union movement will continue to stand by the Palestinian people, and do all we can to support reconstruction and ensure that the appalling destruction is never repeated. A first and fundamental step must be recognition by the UN of enhanced status for Palestine this week," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow, who led the delegation.

The UN General Assembly is expected to vote this week on a resolution which would raise Palestine’s UN status from being an observer to becoming a non-member observer state.

(Picture: two Palestinian boys visiting their devastated school)