Plaid Cymru's Vice President Jill Evans MEP has expressed her horror that the Shij'ia Family Health Care Centre in Gaza City, run by the Near East Council of Churches (NECC), has been destroyed by Israeli missile fire. She says that this makes the appeal issued by the Archbishop of Wales for funds for frontline health work even more urgent.

Speaking from Strasbourg, Jill Evans, who was in Gaza last year and who is returning in February, said:

"I understand that a telephone warning was given to evacuate the building within 15 minutes, followed by an attack by missiles from an Israeli air force jet. It destroyed the building completely.

"Thankfully there were no casualties, but hundreds of thousands of pounds of medical equipment has been lost. Israel claim to be targetting military installations, yet this was a clearly marked health centre."

Jill Evans pointed out that Archbishop Barry Morgan's appeal for funds had only just been launched, and now emergency care can no longer be provided in that part of Gaza City.

"At present there is no news of the mobile dental clinic, which operated out of the Shij'ia Family Health Care Centre, and I understand that Christian Aid are attempting to find out what has happened. I can only express my horror at the destruction of the centre and the continuing deaths and injuries. I urge people to contribute whatever they can to the appeal so that the primary health care work of the NECC can continue in the future."

The mobile dental clinic is funded solely by the people of Wales. Emblazoned with the Red Dragon it is a familiar sight in Gaza City, with people queuing outside for treatment.

Diwedd/Ends.

Notes

Donations for the clinic should be sent to: Church in Wales Jubilee Fund, 39 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9XF. Cheques paybable to Gaza Dental Project.