CRI听力:West Bank Palestinians Step up to Help Gaza

Amid the tensions still lingering in Gaza, despite a 5-day extension of a ceasefire, Palestinians in the West Bank are stepping up to donate blood and relief items to the people in the besieged enclave.

CRI's Xiong Siqi has more.

West Bank Palestinians Step up to Help Gaza 

In the city hall of Anata near Ramallah, local stream in constantly to donate blood for the injured in Gaza.

"I come here today because I want to help our people in the Gaza Strip, because there is a war in Gaza, the Israeli operation. Children died, houses went down, and bang bang bang..."

The Israeli military operation in Gaza has left over 10-thousand Palestinians injured, on top of the over 2-thousand killed.

The Palestinian National Blood Bank has been collecting blood across the West Bank for over one month.

Blood bank doctor Enas Shatat says people in the West Bank are eager to help.

"When we say we want blood for Gaza, everybody comes and donates blood. They see the situation in Gaza, the injuries, they say 'we want to donate'. They asked us, and we said yes, we want to send blood to Gaza, and then one told his friend, and his friend told another friend... like that."

In addition, many organizations in the West Bank are also collecting relief items for Gaza.

Mahdi Jamal is with the Red Crescent Society.

"I think after the war of one month they need everything, but the most important thing now is rebuilding Gaza. Half a million people are outside their houses because they were destroyed, and it's very hard to rebuild. They need shelters, then the food items and the fresh water, because they don't have water, plus the electricity, because they don't have electricity as well."

And at the same time, big shops and supermarkets in Ramallah are putting out lists of items people should be bying for Gaza, including water, baby diapers and feminine hygiene products.

However, in at least one supermarket, the top of the list reads: "NO ISRAELI BRANDS!!"

"Because if we buy Israeli brands, we are like practically giving them money so that they can destroy Gaza."

Volunteers in the West Bank are also collecting clothes to be distributed in Gaza.

For CRI, I'm Xiong Siqi.