00:00Well, first for you in this edition, then, Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the leaders
00:14of France, Britain, and Canada of emboldening Hamas, even saying that they are supporting,
00:20I quote, mass murderers, rapists, baby killers, and kidnappers.
00:24Now, those comments came after France, Britain, and Canada simply threatened to take concrete
00:28action against Israel if it refused to stop its latest offensive in Gaza.
00:32Well, in the face of a catastrophic situation in the Palestinian territory, Western leaders,
00:37once rather reticent to criticize Israel, have found it increasingly difficult to remain
00:42silent.
00:43Dozens more Gazans were killed in Israeli strikes over the past two days, including at least
00:4723 people between Thursday and Friday alone.
00:50Take a listen.
00:54We've been working here since dawn.
00:56This five-story building was targeted, and there are a large number of people, including
01:02citizens who own these houses, under the rubble.
01:05According to estimates, more than 50 people are still under the rubble.
01:11We were asleep when suddenly at 12 o'clock, we heard the sound of bombing over the house.
01:17The children, their father and mother, as well as my husband and son, were killed.
01:22They were innocent children.
01:25Their parents were poor, and she was seven months pregnant.
01:28Seven months pregnant.
01:29Well, for more on this, Jonathan Cricks joins me now on set.
01:34He is the communications director for UNICEF Palestine.
01:37Jonathan, thank you so very much for your time and coming on the show today.
01:41Now, you got back from your latest mission to Gaza just about 10 days ago.
01:45Can you tell us what you saw there and perhaps how the situation now compares to past visits
01:51that you've taken there over the past year and a half?
01:54I mean, every time you go to the Gaza Strip, you see major devastation and really intolerable
02:01situations.
02:02But I must say that the last time I went there was really striking.
02:07I met with many children, injured children, children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
02:14I met 10 of them, including a little baby, Siwa, who was five months old, and she's weighing
02:22barely a bit more than two kilos.
02:24And so the only thing for Siwa to get better that is needed is actually nutritious food,
02:32therapeutic, medical, nutritious food that can help her to recover.
02:38But the problem is that we are running out.
02:40Apart from the few trucks that entered yesterday or the day before, we are very much in a situation
02:46where we are at a risk of famine in the Gaza Strip.
02:50So that's the reality.
02:51I went to supermarkets, shelves are empty.
02:53You can still find some food.
02:54You can still find potatoes, but it's costing 70 euros for five kilos of potatoes.
03:00A bag of diapers is costing more than 100 euros.
03:04So, of course, most of the families simply cannot afford this.
03:08How would you characterize the situation that children specifically are facing as, again,
03:13a representative of UNICEF across the territory?
03:16And I'll preface that by saying I understand that 29 children and elderly people died of
03:21starvation in the last two days alone.
03:23I mean, is famine then the biggest risk facing them?
03:25I would not, you know, scale, make a hierarchy of the risks because in the past two months,
03:35and according to the Ministry of Health in the Palestinians, in Gaza Strip, but also in Ramallah,
03:43they are indicating that more than 1,000 children were killed in more than two months.
03:50I met many of these injured children, and it is absolutely horrifying what a half a ton bomb
03:58can do on a four-year-old body.
04:01What I want to say here is that not only you have the issue of malnutrition, the issue of
04:07the bombardments, but you also have major challenges.
04:10No hygiene, very poor hygiene, very poor sanitation, low vaccination rates since the beginning of the
04:16war, we're talking about more than 180 babies who were born every day.
04:22So it's a perfect recipe.
04:25We have seen the emergence of polio last year.
04:29So the overall situation with dozens, the dozens of children I have seen barefoot with black teas,
04:37with rushes on their skin, carrying a metal pot and queuing, dozens and dozens of children
04:44queuing to get a little bit of food when I ask them, are telling me one day they perhaps
04:50get a little bit of rice, another day they might be a little bit of bread.
04:54That was 10 days ago, and very often nothing at all.
04:58So this is a situation which is extremely concerning.
05:02I mean, in listening to you, because you've been on the ground there several times, what
05:08do you make of the Israeli military's claim that stopping this aid is to essentially prevent
05:14Hamas from exploiting these resources and using them for its own interests?
05:21Let's talk about what UNICEF brings in, perhaps.
05:24So what are we bringing in?
05:26We're bringing incubators for premature babies.
05:29We're bringing very tiny, high-energy biscuits full of proteins to treat malnutrition.
05:38We're bringing little packs of baby milk also to treat malnutrition.
05:43We're bringing breastfeeding kits for mothers.
05:47We're bringing soap.
05:50There is very little soap.
05:52So the question that one can wonder, we're bringing vaccines.
05:56You know, sometimes I struggle to understand how this can be used in a non-conflict.
06:05You have visited hospitals, refugee camps, schools on your trips, all places that you think
06:11would obviously, and actually under international law, should be spared.
06:15Hostilities, they're regularly targeted.
06:18Is there any part of the Gaza Strip now that's safe for children or the rest of the population
06:23at large?
06:24For the past 18 months, there is not a single place in the Gaza Strip that can be considered
06:30safe.
06:31I can tell you that when you're in the Gaza Strip, when I move from one place to the other
06:36in the so-called safe zones, we have seen strikes.
06:42We have seen incidents.
06:45So the thing is that it is an illusion to think that any place is safe in the Gaza Strip today.
06:54In the face of this blockade that had been in place since March 2nd, what, if any, assistance
07:02have NGOs or other groups been able to provide to those suffering most, including children,
07:07prior to the blockade being lifted, so to speak, yesterday?
07:11So what we have been able to do is actually quite a lot despite the supplies.
07:16The supplies are critical and they can be life savings, like for the little baby Siwa
07:21five months old.
07:23So I'm not minimizing supplies, but yet what we also have been able to do is to produce
07:28water, thousands and thousands of liters of potable water that are distributed to the
07:33communities.
07:34We are supporting in mental health and psychosocial support.
07:38I mean, 1.1 million children are in need of mental health support.
07:44What is it, 1.1 million?
07:46It's every child in the Gaza Strip today needs mental health and psychosocial support.
07:51We have been able to support 300,000 of them.
07:54And we're also doing temporary learning spaces.
07:58It's a tent among the tents and children can come and they do a little bit of math, a little
08:02bit of reading and writing, and they can be a child just for a few hours.
08:07And we have been able to support more than 100,000 of these children.
08:11But the problem is the funding is also lacking.
08:15And we are now in a situation where we are just talking about a few trucks, a few cartons,
08:21which were just food.
08:22But what about their mental health?
08:24What about their education?
08:25What about their physical health?
08:27What about the treatment?
08:30When the little Hanin I met with, five-year-old, she lost her two legs.
08:34She also lost her mother.
08:35And so what is it that the world can do to support a little girl like that?
08:43I mean, that is a question for organizations like UNICEF.
08:46What is it concretely that you expect the international community to do, at least in the short term?
08:53I mean, you know, I was in Gaza last Monday.
08:57And last Monday, we have seen the release of Ida and Alexander, an American-Israeli hostage,
09:03which was after 20 months of horrible living conditions as an hostage, was freed.
09:11It's possible to release the hostages.
09:13And all the hostages must be reunited with their families.
09:17And at the same time, a ceasefire, which was negotiated between the parties, must be reinstated.
09:24There must be a ceasefire reinstated.
09:27And ultimately, and I would say urgently, when I see so many children affected by malnutrition, hungry, thirsty children,
09:36humanitarian aid must enter at scale.
09:39600 trucks were entering every day during the ceasefire.
09:43I have seen 20, 30, 40 trucks in the past two, three days.
09:47I mean, how can that be sufficient to support the survival, the lives of 1.1 million children?
09:57And that's just talking about the short-term effects.
09:59I imagine that the long-term effects, as you mentioned earlier, require even more resources.
10:05Jonathan Cricks, that's unfortunately all we have time for.
10:07But thank you so very much for coming on the program today.
10:09Thanks for having me.
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