While the people of Palestine have long been denied basic human rights and subjected to ethnic cleansing attempts, they are now being subjected to the unfathomable conditions of a months-long assault. Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed by bombs, innocent civillians are gunned down by manned snipers in the streets, and institutions like hospitals and churches are regularly raided and obliterated. The toll of this suffering is so tremendous that a death count cannot be properly calculated given the bodies still trapped under rubble and held in prisons.
The children of Palestine are most affected by this genocide. Gaza is facing famine, displacement, and a deadly lack of resources due to the destruction of so many essential institutions and the blockade of aid into the country. Children who are not shot in the streets or killed in bombings are now dying of starvation, cold exposure, and infections brought on by a lack of access to medication, clean water, and healthcare.
As future and present healthcare workers, we are indebted to serve and no one is in greater need of our service than the people of Palestine. We must look to the physicians in Gaza who still provide care without painkillers to give their patients or food to sustain themselves, and not just be inspired by their unparalleled courage but driven to support them. The children of Palestine need us. It is the least we can do to provide for them.
The PCRF is a legally-registered non-political, non-profit, 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization established in 1991 by concerned people to address the medical and humanitarian needs of Palestinian and Arab youths in the Middle East. We have provided thousands of children life-saving care based on their need, not on religion, gender, nationality or sect.
The main objective of the PCRF is to identify and treat every child in the Middle East in need of specialized surgery not available to them locally. We locate, sponsor and run international, volunteer medical missions to the Middle East, in additional to locating free medical care abroad for children who cannot be adequately treated in the Middle East. The PCRF is the main organization regularly sending injured and sick Arab children to North and South America, the Middle East and Europe for free care that is not available to them there. Since 1991 over 1,000 children have been abroad for millions of dollars of donated care, and over 10,000 have had complex surgery by our visiting medical missions to the region. The PCRF has been awarded the top 4-star rating by Charity Navigator for fiscal management, while being able to treat more kids than any other charity in the Middle East.