Distribution of Food Parcels to Families Returning to Gaza City 300 returning families

Distribution of Food Parcels to Families Returning to Gaza City 300 returning families

A second, expanded round from staple food to fresh produce

300 fresh vegetable parcels for 300 returning families at USD 50 per parcel

Days after distributing food parcels to 200 families returning to Gaza City, it became clear the need was both broader and shifting in nature. Families returning to damaged homes lacked more than staple commodities: they lacked fresh food in particular the hardest to obtain and most expensive item in depleted markets, and the most important for proper nutrition after months of dependence on canned and dry goods.

In response, SAFE delivered a second, expanded round of distribution, covering fresh vegetable parcels for 300 returning families, through a donation from the Holy Family Church funded by World Central Kitchen (WCK), on 15 February 2025.

The Intervention in Numbers

• 300 fresh vegetable parcels distributed to families returning to Gaza City
• 300 beneficiary families 50% more than in the first round
• USD 50 per parcel a total in-kind contribution of USD 15,000
• Just nine days between the first and second rounds, reflecting response speed and field team readiness

A Continuous Response, Not a One-Off

This intervention is the second link in a chain of response delivered by SAFE for families returning to Gaza City during February 2025, totalling 500 food and vegetable parcels worth USD 25,000. The expansion from 200 to 300 families came from direct field reading of need rather than a pre-set plan the mark of a flexible response able to adapt to a rapidly shifting reality.

Why Fresh Vegetables?

Because they are the gap conventional food baskets cannot fill. Canned and dry goods provide calories, but not the vitamins, fibre, and dietary diversity a household needs particularly children, pregnant women, and older people. In a return context, with supply chains disrupted and prices high, fresh vegetables are the first item struck from a family's shopping list and the last to arrive through relief.

As an organisation with an agricultural identity, SAFE sees the provision of fresh food as a natural extension of its mission rather than a passing relief intervention.

SAFE's Role

SAFE delivered the intervention in full, without an implementing partner: identifying returning families against need-based criteria, sourcing the produce and assembling parcels to ensure quality and freshness, and organising field distribution in a way that preserved families' dignity and ensured items arrived in good condition and on time.

Humanitarian Partnership Across Boundaries

This intervention embodies humanitarian solidarity: a donation from the Holy Family Church in Gaza, funded by World Central Kitchen (WCK), delivered locally by SAFE a partnership that proved it could be repeated and scaled within a matter of days.

For fifty dollars, fresh produce reached a returning family's table. From the first round to the second, solidarity became a sustained response.