00:00Well, since the war began on October 7th, 2023, some 67,000 people in Gaza have been killed.
00:07Entire towns and cities have been razed to the ground as the Israeli offensive continues.
00:12Even today, on the anniversary of the attacks, Israeli tanks, boats and jets have been pounding parts of the Gaza Strip.
00:18We're going to talk more about the situation in Gaza now with Yusra Abu Chakra, who joins me from Derralbala in Gaza.
00:25You are the Gaza coordinator for the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance, or INARA.
00:31Thank you so much for speaking to us today.
00:33Let's just start with the situation on the ground two years after the start of the war.
00:37What is the reality of life in Gaza at the moment?
00:41The reality is very hard, even after the glimpse of hope that people on the ground feel after the plans over Trump.
00:50People in Gaza City are suffering from the continuing and ongoing bombardment and continuing shooting and tank shilling.
00:59We could hear the sounds from here, from central Gaza Strip.
01:04However, on the other side, in the south of Gaza, people are suffering and they are in dire need for every single basic need,
01:15from shelter to food, to health, to water, sanitation and hygiene.
01:20So after like two years, whenever we stand, we can't realize that we were going through too much.
01:33The pain is very deep.
01:34The trauma that accumulated inside every single one in Gaza Strip is very complex.
01:41And they are now waiting for the moment just to kneel or to grieve their losses.
01:49For example, yesterday night, to me, it was like a moment when I remember my house that was completely destroyed in North two years ago.
02:01And I remember the legal made report that my son made.
02:07And I couldn't bear this guilt of making this very special report in the house, which is completely destroyed.
02:18So the trauma, it's from the very tiny detail to the very huge loss, like losing the whole family, erasing them from the record, from like complete destruction of city.
02:33The recent displacement that people in Gaza went through was, like, was too much for them because they are traumatized from the displacement conditions outside their home and their neighborhood.
02:51So it's very indescribable.
02:55It's very complex in the ground.
02:58I can't bear witnessing children starting their morning and their routine by lining up for water trucking for hours.
03:09Then they collect garbage and some like carton and wood from the streets for fire cooking.
03:19Then they go wherever they could just to get a meal.
03:25And they are so weak.
03:27The trauma inside children in Gaza Strip is very complex.
03:31And it's time to take real actions and to make these negotiations into effect.
03:39Because after two years, after hunger, after all kinds of fears, people cannot afford or cannot bear more of suffering.
03:52Yusra, I'm going to ask you the same question I asked our correspondent in Israel just a few moments ago.
03:57These indirect talks are on now in Egypt.
03:59Are people there aware that this is happening?
04:02Are they hopeful?
04:02Are you hopeful at all that these talks will finally bring some peace to the region?
04:09Honestly speaking, like, for two years, people in Gaza were always hold up on hope.
04:16Even, like, if they were killed several times before.
04:20But this time for them is very serious.
04:23And they are so hopeful.
04:24For newly displaced families here in South Gaza, they started to stop setting up their situation, waiting for the moment to be returned again.
04:39So, yes, there is hope.
04:42And this time it's, like, very serious because everyone is now drained, exhausted.
04:48And they cannot deal with any additional loss or trauma.
04:55As you say, people are really at the end of their tether, not just physically, but also psychologically, emotionally.
05:01Is anything being done through aid associations like your own to help people on an emotional level?
05:06Or is that just too far off the mark at this point?
05:09Yes, we are doing our best in spite of all the challenges that our organizations and other organizations are facing.
05:18We are supporting the children to cope with the ongoing risk and security concerns and to deal with their trauma that they are going through.
05:29Even through, like, very single actions and moments, we are trying to give them the hope because the world failed those children.
05:40And we don't want them to be raised in a community where they don't believe in humanity.
05:49For example, I convinced my children the other day to go and help a girl, a very small girl that was carrying two jerry cans.
06:01And they were so heavy.
06:03And they went and helped her.
06:06And it was so long trip, just like to bring or to collect water.
06:12And I wanted my children to believe in humanity, to support each other and to be empathetic and to feel that we should be the support system, even if the whole international community failed us.
06:32Yusra, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us.
06:35Yusra Abu-Sharek in Darabala in Gaza.
06:38You're the Gaza coordinator for the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance.
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