'Nowhere in Gaza is safe': Children cannot escape violence or access aid

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00:00First, the Israeli army has today announced the opening of an additional aid crossing

00:10into the Gaza Strip, ahead of an American deadline that could see some military assistance

00:16to Israel cut. Hours before the deadline, though, eight international organisations

00:22issued a statement saying Israel had failed to meet the US target, adding that conditions

00:28are worse than at any point during the 13-month-old war in Gaza. Last week, a UN-backed assessment

00:36concluded that famine is imminent in parts of the north of Gaza, where Israel has imposed

00:43a siege for more than a month. France 24's Karis Garland has our first report.

00:51Crowding around a food distribution site in Deir el-Bala, schools of Palestinians seek

00:57to stave off the hunger that's become so widespread. Humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip

01:03remain dire, and on Tuesday, eight international aid organisations said that Israel had missed

01:09a US deadline to reduce human suffering in the territory. The US sent Israel a letter

01:15on October 13, warning it had 30 days to take a list of steps to improve the situation or

01:22risk losing American military support. On Monday, Israel's new foreign minister appeared

01:27to downplay the deadline.

01:30We see how we can respond in difficult circumstances to the humanitarian demands. I'm sure that

01:40we can also reach understanding with our American friends.

01:46According to the aid organisations, Israel showed partial or inconsistent implementation

01:51on four of the American demands, and non-compliance, delays or backtracking on 15 of them. One

01:59key demand was to increase the amount of aid trucks entering Gaza. The UN said an average

02:04of 37 trucks passed into the Strip per day in October. That's compared to roughly 200

02:11per day in the two previous months. But barely any of this made it to northern Gaza, where

02:17Israel launched a major offensive weeks ago.

02:20The Israeli military says it's fighting Hamas militants who have regrouped in the north.

02:25Rights groups and observers have accused Israel of trying to implement a plan in which the

02:30army forcibly displaces the population from the area. In its letter to Israel, the US

02:36had asked for written commitment that the military was not seeking to isolate northern

02:41Gaza.

02:42Well, let's speak on the programme live now to Salim Owais. He's a communications officer

02:49with the UN Children's Agency UNICEF. He joins us from Amman in Jordan. Hello to you. Thanks

02:56for joining us.

02:57Hello, Nadia. Thank you.

03:00What is you and your colleagues at the United Nations best understanding of how much aid

03:06is getting into northern Gaza at the moment?

03:09Well, it's not even remotely close to what is needed. We're talking about just last month,

03:16a little bit over 50 trucks went in since the beginning of or the year after October

03:24last year. It's been around, the average was 93 trucks a day, which is over two million

03:32people. That's just a fraction of a truck per person per year. That's not really even

03:39enough to sustain life itself, not to not to mention the immense needs that has been

03:45created by the conflict, by the violence, by the war. We're talking about a lack of

03:52the basic of the basics, water, food, shelter, medicine and medical supplies. All of these

04:01are just not there and they're not being allowed to go in.

04:06Are they not being allowed to go in by Israel because Israel is denying famine like conditions

04:12in the north? It's also often blamed Hamas for the situation in the enclave.

04:18Well, let's face the facts. Now, in the latest reports that we receive on hunger, malnutrition

04:26and famine, the famine is imminent and it's been that way for the past months. Every month

04:33it's even worse. Every report that comes in shows a worsening situation. While when borders

04:40are a little bit more relaxed, things get better. But the overall picture is really

04:46getting much worse. And during the past weeks, it's been horrific and it's been shameful

04:53the amount of aid that comes in, especially in the north of Gaza. You just mentioned famine

05:00like conditions there. And we are afraid that famine might have been already there for a

05:06while now. So actually, the situation on the ground is really dire. That's what we're seeing.

05:12And that's what people are experiencing day in, day out.

05:15And give us a sense then as to the kind of impact that is having in the north of Gaza

05:21on children. I mean, it sounds a bit trite to kind of ask you how bad things are for

05:27children right now. But just can you help us quantify or visualize how children in the

05:35north are coping with a situation like this?

05:38Well, unfortunately, the images that you are showing on your screens right now, those are

05:43not how children in Gaza live normally before one year ago. These are manmade conditions.

05:51These are emerging conditions that came due to the violence and the continued bombardment

05:57of the strip. This is the situation now in Gaza. But unfortunately, we're afraid that

06:03these are becoming the norm and we are used to seeing these images. This is not the reality.

06:08I was in Gaza and in north Gaza specifically two months ago or three months ago. And children

06:16were asking me to please give us anything other than the canned food that we can't eat

06:23anymore. And it's to begin with, it's not enough. And it's the same thing all over again.

06:29They want something. They ask for vegetables. For a child to ask for a vegetable, that's

06:33a big thing. That means that they've not seen vegetables for so long. For a child who just

06:40imagining themselves eating. The stories that we get from the ground, the videos that

06:46we publish on our platforms, it tells the story. Children are looking for an end to

06:51the hunger. That's one child that we talked to. She said, I just want not to be hungry,

06:58not to sleep hungry and not to wake up hungry.

07:01I'm interested in the fact that you yourself were in Gaza in the north, you mentioned a

07:05couple of months ago. Can you give us a sense then of what struck you most as somebody who

07:13works for the United Nations? And perhaps you can tell us a bit as well about what access

07:17is like in the north, because we've been reporting it is effectively under siege like conditions

07:22now.

07:23Well, when I was there, it was a cumbersome procedure to be able to go to the north. It's

07:32not safe. It goes through a lot of clearances step by step. And just to get, and I was at

07:41that point, I was on a reunification mission to get children back to their parents who

07:46were separated from to the north and from the north back. And to get there, it was that

07:51mission was denied several times. That was the fourth time that we tried when it happened.

08:00The wait on the several waiting points and the checkpoints is horrific. What really kind

08:09of stood out is the amount of, and the mass destruction that I saw. All the coastal line

08:19is powder-like. It's really like, and when you compare it to photos from Gaza before,

08:25a beautiful beach, a beautiful coastal line, now it's just powder. And it's really horrible,

08:32really heart aching to see these images. And then you meet the people and you see the actual

08:40struggle that they live day in, day out. The children asking for food, just being happy

08:48to see a car that is coming from outside of the northern part. For them, this is a scene.

08:57And look, we've been talking about the north of Gaza and we've heard this line from agencies

09:03like yours before for, well, getting on for a year now, that nowhere in Gaza is safe.

09:09But I do wonder how different the situation is for children now in the centre, the south

09:16of Gaza, compared to these particularly dangerous, extreme conditions in the north.

09:21Well, it's really, I'm not sure if it's different. It's just a different reality, maybe. If we're

09:28talking about the whole of Gaza, and I said a year after last October, or from the beginning

09:37of the escalation, only 93 trucks went in. That's for the whole of Gaza. The situation

09:46in the north is even worse. Now we're talking about escalations and heavy bombardment of

09:53Beit Lahya, of Jabalia, of Beit Hanoun. All of those are not, they don't get aid. And

10:00even if some aid is getting in, it's just a few trucks that doesn't even meet the first

10:11and essential needs of those places. So I think there are a little bit of difference.

10:19But as you said, nowhere in Gaza is safe. And I think that's the underlying issue here,

10:27is children don't have a place to be, don't have a place to escape violence, and don't

10:34have a way to get to the aid or the aid to them, wherever they are in Gaza.

10:40Salim Mowais talking to us there from UNICEF. He was himself in Gaza several months ago.

10:44Thank you very much indeed.

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