As Storm Byron pummels the region, IsraAID launches flash appeal for Gaza winter items
Israeli NGO is responding to urgent needs of children and families in Gaza, as the storm and the arrival of winter threaten a major health crisis in the Strip.
Friday, December 12, 2025. For immediate release:
IsraAID, Israel’s leading non-governmental humanitarian aid organization, is launching a flash appeal to support large-scale shipments of lifesaving winter items for displaced families and children in the Gaza Strip. More than one million people living in tents across Gaza are currently facing devastating wind and rain from Storm Byron.
In strict coordination with the Israeli authorities and together with humanitarian partners who are vetted and approved by the Israeli authorities, IsraAID has been supporting humanitarian needs in Gaza, while concurrently supporting Israeli communities affected by the Hamas-led October 7th massacres and subsequent two years of war. With communities across Gaza bracing for a particularly difficult winter, the organization is working to deliver essential shelter items, including blankets, mattresses, tents, tarpaulins, and more, to trusted partners, with a focus on displaced families, children, and orphans. Today, as communities in Israel and Gaza feel the full impact of Storm Byron, the organization is launching a flash appeal to raise an additional $2 million, in order to scale up its response to the threats posed by a potentially devastating winter. With Gaza’s health system facing extreme strain and many displaced communities lacking adequate sanitation or sewage facilities, the risk of major disease outbreaks and hypothermia is high.
As an Israel-based humanitarian aid organization, IsraAID is committed to using its unique position to ensure essential aid gets to civilians in urgent need in Gaza. IsraAID’s response to crisis in Gaza is carried out in coordination with the Israeli authorities and vetted international humanitarian partners, with constant monitoring to make sure aid deliveries directly reach civilians in need. As of December 2025, IsraAID and its partners have reached more than 450,000 people across Gaza with food, hygiene kits, shelter items, medicines, safe water, and more.
Yotam Polizer, IsraAID’s CEO, said:
“Right now, Storm Byron is bringing catastrophic scenes to already-vulnerable displaced communities across the Gaza Strip – especially children and families. As an Israeli humanitarian aid organization – which has responded over the last two years in both Israel and Gaza – we have both the capacity and the duty to save lives and alleviate suffering, today. That’s why we are issuing an urgent call to action to help us bring as many winter items as we can into the Strip, as quickly as we can. Everything we do in our response to humanitarian crisis in Gaza is done in constant coordination with the Israeli authorities and our humanitarian partners, ensuring that we can get essential aid to the vulnerable people who really need it.”
Donations to IsraAID’s flash appeal can be made online here.
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Further information is available on request, including interviews with IsraAID CEO Yotam Polizer and other individuals involved in this operation.
CONTACT:
Ethan Schwartz, Communications Director
Email: [email protected]
Notes:
- IsraAID is a leading international humanitarian non-governmental organization, based in Israel. Since 2001, IsraAID has become synonymous with a rapid response to humanitarian crises and a long-term commitment to working with affected communities. During and after emergencies, IsraAID partners with communities to re-build their lives – and their futures – together. As of December 2025, IsraAID has responded to more than 110 emergencies, in more than 65 countries.
