Israel-Gaza conflict: "The situation is worse today than it ever has been"

CGTN Europe

CGTN Europe interviewed Alexandra Saieh, Head of Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy at Save the Children

Transcript

00:00Alexandra Sire is from Save the Children.

00:02Alexandra, thank you for joining me.

00:04Gaza's health ministry has reported now more than 120 famine-related deaths,

00:10including dozens of children.

00:12Is this what your staff are telling you?

00:14What our staff are telling us is that the situation is worse today than it ever has been.

00:20And, you know, we operate a health clinic in central Gaza

00:25where we actually treat children and mothers for malnutrition.

00:28And what our colleagues are saying is that there's been a noticeable spike

00:32in cases of malnutrition amongst children and mothers in the last few weeks.

00:37So what our staff are saying is that the situation is getting worse.

00:41It's deteriorating very quickly.

00:43Our own staff are coming to work hungry, tired, and exhausted

00:48because they're not getting enough to eat.

00:51And, you know, in terms of the children,

00:53we know that they are the ones who suffer the most and suffer first.

00:56We have been seeing malnutrition amongst children across the last 21 months.

01:02But in the last few weeks and months, we have seen this significantly worse.

01:06And there's almost no aid entering Gaza right now.

01:10The aid that is entering through the food distributions,

01:13through the Israeli government-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,

01:16is not reaching the people most in need.

01:19We've seen these food distribution sites basically become races

01:24where it's survival of the fittest racing to get food.

01:27And that's not how you deliver humanitarian assistance.

01:31Palestinians in Gaza today are being faced with the impossible choice

01:34of facing gunfire just to feed their families or starving.

01:39And that's just absolutely unacceptable.

01:42And unfortunately, you know, with these,

01:45we know that at least 80 children have died of malnutrition.

01:50And at least four of them, four of those deaths took place in a single day.

01:55So that's an indication this week that deaths as a result of malnutrition,

02:01as a result of starvation and dehydration disease,

02:03are now accelerating and we may be beyond the tipping point.

02:06If international aid doesn't come quickly,

02:11what do you think the next month will look like for Gaza's most vulnerable,

02:15especially the children and the elderly?

02:18It is going to look very bleak, very dire.

02:21And I'm afraid that in many cases it may be too late already.

02:26When malnutrition affects children under five,

02:31they may have stunted growth.

02:33It will impact them in terms of their cognitive and physical development.

02:38What they're experiencing now will have lifelong consequences for them

02:42and for their future survival.

02:44So for many children, it's too late.

02:45But we need to get aid in as soon as possible.

02:50And not just that, we need full humanitarian access.

02:53We need to lift the siege.

02:54We need the Israeli government to completely lift the siege on Gaza.

02:58We need the international community to put the pressure needed to make that happen.

03:04We also need a ceasefire because there is no safety in Gaza for anyone,

03:08not civilians, not aid workers.

03:11We can't do our jobs in Gaza as bombs rain down across the entire enclave.

03:18We've had to suspend services this week because it's become so unsafe.

03:23There have been new displacement orders issued.

03:26All of these factors contribute to the catastrophe that we're seeing now,

03:31which is starvation, mass starvation spreading across Gaza.

03:37Alexandra Sayer from Save the Children, thank you very much indeed for that.

03:40Thank you for having me.

03:41Thank you for having me.

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