MEDIA ADVISORY: JOINT PRESS BRIEFING ON GAZA'S ESCALATING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

 What

Representatives from leading humanitarian organisations, including those who are in or just left the Gaza Strip, will brief the press on the impact of Israel’s total siege on Gaza - which has lasted now more than 70 days, and Israel’s plan to control and limit aid distribution moving forward.  

Areas of focus:   

• The catastrophic conditions for Palestinians in Gaza after 10 weeks of a full blockade of aid, water and medical supplies
• The militarization of aid, including:
• Israel’s plan to control and limit the distribution of aid, through the use of private organisations and security contractors
• The impact of forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians into designated areas
• Aid being withheld from people who are not registered and aid being limited to the bare minimum
• Israel’s new rules for the registration of international NGOs amid a continued crackdown on civil society 

When

Wednesday, May 14, 2025 -  9am ET/2pm UK/3pm CET/4pm Gaza 

Where

Please register in advance for this webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fsCVX0UHTY6xuBRaMsRCVA 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. 

Who:  

Moderated by: Soraya Ali, Global Media Manager MEANEE, Save the Children 

Speakers to include: 

• Bushra Khalidi, Policy Lead, Oxfam
• Mohammed Saleh, Director of Al-Awda Hospital in North Gaza
• Mahmoud Isleem, General Coordinator/ Country Director, Médecins du Monde France
• Yazdan El Amawi, Gaza Director, Anera
• Salwa Al Tibi, Palestine/Gaza Country Director, MedGlobal
• Amande Bazerolle, Gaza Coordinator, Médecins Sans Frontières France 

Spokespeople's Bios: 

• Bushra Khalidi is the Palestinian Territory Policy Lead at Oxfam, specialising in protection, humanitarian access, and accountability. She influences decision-makers, engages with international institutions, and advocates for rights-based humanitarian action, ensuring Palestinian voices are represented. Bushra leads initiatives on ceasefire efforts, humanitarian space protection, and ending settlement trade.
• Dr Mohammed Saleh is the current Director of Al-Awda Hospital near Jabaliya, North Gaza. When the former director, Dr. Ahmed Muhanna, was taken into custody by Israeli forces on 17 December 2023, Dr Saleh stepped in and led the hospital through the devastating four-month siege of Jabaliya of October 2024-January 2025 — the second siege faced by the hospital since the beginning of the escalation. Since his family had to flee to southern Gaza, he has had minimal contact with them, as he chose to stand by the hospital’s patients and staff.
• Salwa Al-Tibi is Country Director for Palestine/Gaza at MedGlobal. Herself a refugee whose family has faced numerous displacements, she lives in Gaza City and specializes in community mental health. She has over 25 years of experience working with different NGOs and local organizations in Gaza, including previous senior positions at Save the Children, CARE international, and Catholic Relief Services.
• Mahmoud Isleem is General Coordinator/ Country Director of Médecins du Monde France (MdM) in the occupied Palestinian territory. He has 20 years of humanitarian work experience in Palestine in both Gaza and the West Bank. As a Palestinian of the West Bank, he is currently based in Ramallah due to access restrictions to the Gaza Strip imposed by Israeli authorities on WB ID-holder humanitarians.
• Amande Bazerolle is an emergency coordinator with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) France. After her first mission in Palestine in 2011, she has worked for MSF Asia programs, notably as a head of mission for Pakistan. Since September 2024 she has been overseeing MSF emergency response in Gaza. She has just spent four months in Gaza, coordinating the work of 900 Palestinian staff.
• Yazdan El Amawi is the Gaza Director at Anera. He has over two decades of experience working across the humanitarian and development fields in Gaza and has managed many programs on livelihoods, health, water, sanitation, education, and emergency response. He holds an MBA from the University of Northern Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Marquette University.