Jacob Kurtzer, Communication Coordinator for the ICRC in Israel and the Occupied Territories describes the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, with widespread hunger and desperation leading people to risk their lives for food. He calls for a cessation of hostilities and an immediate influx of basic goods, including medical equipment and clean water supplies, as a core humanitarian responsibility.
00:00To these latest killings, at least 84 people in Gaza, is this more evidence of aid sites being targeted as civilians try to access help?
00:11Well, we have seen and we continue to see people coming to the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafa who report to us that they're coming from food distribution sites.
00:20And these are people that are showing up. Some, unfortunately, and tragically show up dead. Many others show up with gunshot wounds.
00:28And I think what this does, it tells us is it speaks to the level of desperation in Gaza right now, that people are so desperate for food, that hunger is so pervasive, that they're still going to distribution sites knowing full well the risks that that entails.
00:43We're struggling a little bit to come up with words to describe the situation, but I can certainly call it catastrophic.
00:48We see throughout Gaza extreme levels of hunger. My colleagues this morning were talking to me just about the level of desperation that they themselves feel, but also that they hear from the people when they come to the office, when they move around.
01:02The measures people need to take just to find some food for the day, it's truly heartbreaking and it's very, very troubling.
01:09And so the desperation level that we see at the field hospital, that we see as we move around Gaza, that our colleagues report back to us, is really extreme.
01:20Absolutely. It is very difficult to come up with the adequate words, as you say.
01:25If there is one urgent message today that the ICRC wants to get out, what is the ICRC calling for in terms of the safety of civilians and humanitarian personnel?
01:34Well, we have suffered from the ICRC ourselves. We've lost colleagues. We've had a colleague injured recently.
01:44Our partners, the Palestine Red Crescent, have lost many colleagues. So even the humanitarian personnel, even the medical personnel are feeling increasingly unsafe.
01:54And this speaks to the lack of safety for the civilian population as a whole. Protection is the most fundamental human need and nowhere in Gaza is safe right now.
02:03And we can see that on a daily basis, that people are really struggling even to just find a safe place to shelter.
02:09Today, another evacuation order came in and people are forced to move once again after having moved many and many times before, leaving behind their basic goods that they have left.
02:21And in this constant search for safety, they're exhausted. There is no food. Access to clean water is very, very difficult and it's hot out.
02:28And so the situation is desperate. What we have said at the ICRC is, first and foremost, we need a cessation of hostilities.
02:36We saw in the period from January to March that when the cessation of hostilities, when the ceasefire happened, people were able to have a respite from this desperation.
02:46People were able to go back to their homes. They were able to find food.
02:49They were able to recover, not just physically, but emotionally and psychologically.
02:54The constant toll of this violence that it has on people is extreme.
02:59And so first and foremost, we've said that we need to have this cessation of hostilities.
03:04But we also saw in an agreement when the ceasefire agreement happened that it really brought not just not just basic goods, but it brought hope to people, to Gazans, to civilians who are struggling in this conflict, but also to hostages who were released into their families who were able to close that very, very difficult chapter.
03:23So we've called for a cessation of hostilities.
03:25Even in the absence of that, though, we're also calling for a rapid, immediate influx of basic goods into Gaza.
03:33The situation is so dire. We need so much more food.
03:37We need medical equipment. We need supplies.
03:39We need the bits and bobs to fix the infrastructure system to make sure that the water system can work and people can have access to clean water.
03:48And that has to happen independent of everything else.
03:51That's a core humanitarian responsibility.
03:53Yes, Jacob, I'm afraid we'll have to leave it there.
03:56But thank you so much for speaking with us today, Jacob Kurtz from the ICRC.
04:01Many thanks.
04:03Moving on to other news now.
04:04And Typhoon Weeper has made landfall in southern China's Taishan, a coastal city of Guangdong, bringing torrential rain and strong gales.
