00:00 - More or less, speak to James Elder,
00:01 spokesperson with UNICEF,
00:03 standing by on the line in Geneva.
00:06 Hello to you, James.
00:07 One week on, and it doesn't seem like the situation's
00:10 getting any better.
00:11 We just saw the report with the harrowing images
00:14 out of Gaza.
00:15 What's the latest on the humanitarian situation
00:17 in the Strip?
00:18 - Absolutely nightmarish, unfortunately.
00:22 I think your correspondent painted the perfect picture
00:24 that you've now seen 500 children,
00:28 just over 500 Palestinian children have been killed
00:32 in just these days since the attack started.
00:35 It's this perpetual call from the United Nations,
00:38 from the Secretary General to aid organizations like UNICEF
00:42 for a cessation, for something resembling
00:46 humanitarian corridors, just so we can get supplies in
00:49 and people can get out,
00:51 but not moving from one part to the other,
00:53 as we just heard.
00:54 I mean, again, UNICEF reiterates this idea
00:57 from the Secretary General to rescind Israel,
00:59 to rescind the order for a million people to move.
01:02 You've got hospitals overflowing.
01:04 You've got children who can't access medical care,
01:07 children who have injuries of war.
01:08 You've got people who have lost all access to water.
01:11 They are drinking what they know is contaminated water,
01:14 and you've got bombardments ongoing.
01:17 It's nightmarish, but it's real,
01:20 and it's happening to hundreds of thousands of children
01:22 whilst we speak.
01:24 - And it's a concern,
01:25 because not just for the able-bodied people,
01:27 but the children, but the elderly,
01:28 those who are on life support under this total blockade,
01:31 concerned about whether they could even move down the street
01:34 much less flee to Southern Gaza.
01:37 - Well, exactly, and they can't, is the short answer.
01:41 If you have someone in ICU and you have a lack of beds,
01:44 you're asking doctors to make a decision
01:47 in terms of who lives and who doesn't
01:48 in trying to move people.
01:50 Equally, as a colleague from the World Health Organization
01:52 said, to try and move those people
01:54 who have terrible wounds of war is a death sentence,
01:58 and these are wounds of war.
02:00 I've seen what shrapnel does when buildings collapse
02:03 or when shrapnel from bombs and mortars goes through.
02:05 It's designed to rip through concrete.
02:08 It's unspeakable to say what it does to a child's body,
02:10 and yet that's what's happening.
02:12 That's why we see the fear and the tears.
02:15 So again, there's this plea to Israel,
02:19 but also to any country that has, you know,
02:22 powerful countries that have leverage,
02:24 for a cessation of, for a moment of just,
02:29 of peace in Gaza, to stop the attacks,
02:33 to open up humanitarian corridors.
02:35 A lasting solution is the only thing
02:38 that's going to happen here.
02:39 It's going to be a political solution.
02:41 So let's not see dozens or hundreds more
02:44 Palestinian children killed, and in the same breath,
02:47 let's get those Israeli children who are most likely
02:50 in Gaza, who were taken hostage,
02:52 let's get them back to their families,
02:54 to their loved ones in Israel.
02:56 That's a very clear call on Hamas to do that.
02:59 - Yeah, and a very important call for peace,
03:02 but James, I mean, we heard from Israeli authorities
03:04 saying now is a time for war.
03:07 Are organizations like yours,
03:09 do they have contingency plans if peace is not imminent?
03:12 - Look, unfortunately UNICEF, right now,
03:16 we are dealing with wars in Ukraine, in Sudan,
03:20 this intense conflict in Sudan.
03:23 This is what we do, it's frontline work.
03:26 The, and we have very, very brave,
03:28 I have very, very brave colleagues in Gaza.
03:30 The challenge is that we need
03:31 to constantly replenish supplies.
03:33 So medical supplies are fundamental,
03:35 making sure children have clean water,
03:38 power to hospitals, which requires fuel,
03:40 which is something UNICEF does.
03:42 If we're unable to replenish those supplies,
03:45 and we, like many others, are unable to do that
03:47 because of this blockade, that becomes very difficult,
03:50 no matter what, no matter how the next days pan out.
03:53 But yes, of course, if we do see what is being threatened,
03:57 then we will have a humanitarian catastrophe
04:00 for the civilians in Gaza.
04:01 - We're reaching a flurry of diplomatic activity
04:03 in the past 24 hours, more meetings today,
04:05 as well as this weekend.
04:07 Any of these world leaders, any of these governments,
04:10 do you think they're putting the humanitarian situation
04:14 with as much importance that it deserves
04:16 in trying to establish humanitarian corridors, possibly?
04:19 - Oh, look, I certainly know from my own organisation,
04:23 from the Secretary General of the United Nations,
04:25 who's been clear from the earliest outset,
04:28 and I'm gonna be using all influence from his office
04:31 to try and effect some change within those governments
04:35 to put the right pressure on,
04:36 to allow corridors, to allow supplies.
04:39 But we're having this discussion, you and I,
04:40 and I was, UNICEF was making this call on Saturday.
04:43 So we hope behind those closed doors,
04:45 and I know Security Council will meet again later,
04:48 we hope that those decisions are being made
04:50 because otherwise we can see,
04:53 my colleagues on the ground can see what happens,
04:56 particularly what happens to children
04:57 when those decisions are not made.
04:59 - And James, real quickly, so much of the focus on Gaza now,
05:04 the rest of the attention, of course, in Israel.
05:07 What about the occupied West Bank?
05:08 - Well, indeed, I mean, I think what this relates to,
05:13 whether it's the occupied West Bank,
05:14 or whether I listened to your news story early on
05:16 and heard of the horrendous stabbing of one or two people,
05:20 and who knows what the links to all these things are,
05:22 but it does seem like incendiary language
05:24 is not helping anyone right now.
05:25 So across the region, elsewhere,
05:28 we need everyone to take a step back from the brink,
05:32 most critically, because hundreds of thousands of children
05:36 are on the brink in Gaza.
05:38 - James, thank you very much for your time.
05:40 and Elders speaking to us from Geneva.
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