UNICEF says scale of humanitarian need is 'enormous' in Gaza

CGTN Europe spoke to Rosalia Bollen, Communication Specialist for UNICEF

Transcript

00:00Now, Rosalia Bolin is a communications specialist with UNICEF. She too joins us now from Gaza.

00:08Thank you so much for your time. 6.30 Sunday morning, what is the plan for UNICEF?

00:15UNICEF, just like the other humanitarian organizations here, is really, really eager to scale up

00:22the aid. The needs are just so immense. It's been 15 long months of utter deprivation for

00:28families here in Gaza, and they're in need of literally everything from food to hygiene

00:34supplies to proper shelter, clothes, mattresses, blankets. Hospitals lack everything, medicines,

00:42medical supplies. So we have been mobilizing items in warehouses outside of Gaza or in

00:50the vicinity of Gaza, at the border with Gaza. UNICEF, for instance, has 1,300 truckloads

00:58of goods, of humanitarian items that we could bring in, and we have 700 more that we could

01:04line up immediately after that, containing all sorts of items ranging from normal supplies,

01:11therapeutic food for babies to, for instance, these hygiene items that I just described.

01:18So you're ready to go. According to your information, will the Rafah border crossing with Egypt,

01:24will that be open for you to drive your trucks through tomorrow?

01:28So I'm based here in Gaza. I'm not involved in the actual negotiations, so I can't really speak

01:33to the details on what crossings are going to be open during what times. I don't have that

01:39information. What I can say, though, is that the focus shouldn't be solely on humanitarian aid.

01:46You know, what people need in Gaza is supplies from the commercial sector, too. Humanitarian aid

01:52on its own cannot sustain a population of over 2 million people. It was never intended to keep

01:59a population alive of over 2 million people. We need in parallel the commercial sector,

02:05the private sector to be able to bring items in, not just food, but all sorts of items,

02:13shampoos, soap, nappies for babies.

02:16It's a huge humanitarian effort. I want to ask you about the logistics. There are roads that have been

02:22bombed. We're hearing of trucks being attacked by criminal gangs. Tell us more about those plans

02:27to deal with those challenges.

02:29Yes, well, these challenges are absolutely immense. The ceasefire is going to be a critical first step

02:37that will save children's lives. But the actual suffering of children and their families,

02:42the utter deprivation, isn't necessarily going to be solved by a ceasefire alone. And that is because

02:49of the very, very difficult operating environment here inside Gaza, because of the multiple access

02:55constraints and logistical constraints. You referenced the large scale of destruction in Gaza.

03:01Most of the infrastructure is damaged, if not completely destroyed. The roads are a good example.

03:07There's not many paved roads left, and the roads that are still paved have many holes in it.

03:12So for trucks, it's hard to maneuver through that. There's lots of congestion as well. We also anticipate

03:18population movement as families in the south are very keen to go back to their homes in the north.

03:24We humanitarians, we need warehousing capacity. We're going to increase the volume of supplies bringing in.

03:30Those need to be stored, at least temporarily, at warehouse points. We have logistical constraints

03:37or security constraints in relation to the lack of law and order, the lack of public order.

03:43We need some form of community policing to ensure that no looting takes place.

03:48We need demining. There's been a large amount of bombs dropped on Gaza. A percentage of those bombs

03:55doesn't explode, and so we fear for an important contamination of unexploded ordnance.

04:01So we need demining efforts for us to be able to access certain sites where heavy combat has taken place.

04:08All right, thank you so much for that update. That's Rosalia Bolen, communications specialist at the

04:14Children's Charity UNICEF.